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•'      '  ■  • »  »^ 


EXPLORATIONS  IN  TURKESTAN 


WITH  AN  ACCOUNT  OF 


The  Basin  of  Eastern  Persia  and  Sistan 


Expedition  of  190^,  under  the  Direction  of 
RAPHAEL  PUMPELLY 


WASHINGTON,  D.  C. : 

Published  by  the  Carnegie  Institution  of  Washington 

April,  1905 


I25;n^j 


Xl41 


CARNEGIE  INSTITUTION  OF  WASHINGTON 
Publication  No.  26 


FROM    THE  PRESS  OF 

THE   HENRY   E.  WILKENS  PRINTING  CO 

WASHINGTON,    D.    C- 


■I 


.i 


Ubnux 


^      Archeological  and  Physico-Geographical  Reconnaissance  in  Turkestan 

By  Raphael  Pumpelly 

A  Journey  Across  Turkestan       ...       By  William  M.  Davis 


Physiographic  Observations  Between  the  Syr  Darya  and  Lake  Kara 
Kul,  on  the  Pamir,  in  1903         .         By  Raphael  W.  Pumpelly 

A  Geologic  and  Physiographic  Reconnaissance  in  Central  Turkestan 

By  Ellsworth  Huntington 

Y       The  Basin  of  Eastern  Persia  and  Sistan,    By  Ellsworth  Huntington 


CONTENTS. 


Archeological  and  Physico-Geographicai,  Reconnaissance  in 

Turkestan. 

Page. 

Introduction  3 

Itinerary 3 

Outline  sketch  of  the  region 5 

Evidences  of  former  occupation 7 

Tumuli  (or  kurgans) ." 7 

Ancient  towns 9 

Ruins  near  Atrek  River 9 

Ancient  Merv 10 

Ruins  of  Paikent 10 

Samarkand lO 

Review  of  the  field 12 

Results  in  physical  geography 16 

Recommendations 18 

Town  sites 18 

Tumuli 18 

Summary ig 

A  Journey  Across  Turkestan. 

Itinerary 23 

Nature  of  observations 23 

The  Caspian  region 24 

The  Tertiary  and  Quaternary  Caspian 24 

The  Bosporus 26 

The  south  coast  of  the  Black  Sea 26 

U-^  The  Quaternary  Caspian  shorelines  near  Baku 28 

''     The  Quaternary  shorelines  near  Krasnovodsk  and  Jebel 33 

The  plains  of  Southern  Turkestan 36 

1/  The  Quaternary  Aralo-Caspian  in  the  Kara  Kum 37 

The  piedmont  plains 40 

The  Akhal-tekin  oases 41 

The  Kopet  Dagh 46 

The  Firuza  Basin 47 

The  Serani  Valley 49 

The  Selsuparali  Basin 50 

The  terraces  of  Duruigar  Valley 52 

The  desert  plains 54 

The  aggrading  rivers  of  the  plains 55 

Loess  deposits 58 

Loess  near  Samarkand 58 

Loess  near  Jizak 59 

Loess  in  Fergana 60 

Loess  dn  Semiryetshensk 61 

Loess  in  (western)  Kugart  Valley 63 

The  Tian  Shan  Mountains 64 

Preparation  for  the  mountain  journey 64 

Route  over  the  mountains 67 

V 


VI  CONTENTS. 

The  Tian  Shan  Mountains — Continued. 

Weather,  climate,  and  vegetation  in  the  Tian  Shan 70 

Development  of  the  Tian  Shan  Mountains ' 72 

The  Bural  bas-tau y^ 

The  Kokta]  Range  and  the  Son  Kul  Basin 74 

The  ranges  near  Issik  Kul 74 

The  ranges  and  steppes  of  Semiryetshensk  and  Semipalatinsk 77 

Origin  of  the  existing  ranges  of  the  Tian  Shan 80 

The  bearing  of  the  Tian  Shan  ranges  on  the  theory  of  horsts 82 

Glacial  records  in  the  Tian  Shan &} 

Moraines  near  Son  Kul 84 

Moraines  in  the  Terskei  Ala-tau 86 

Moraines  in  the  Kungei  Ala^au 87 

"^     Subdivision  of  the  Glacial  period 88 

"    Glacial  erosion  in  the  higher  ranges 89 

The  Narin  Tertiary  Basin 02 

The  period  of  deposition 02 

The  period  of  deformation  and  erosion ■ 03 

The  rivers  and  valleys  of  the  Tian  Shan pj 

Rivers  of  the  Issik  Kul  district ng 

"     The  Kugart  terraces P7 

The  terraces  of  the  Narin  Basin 102 

^    ■       Origin  of  the  terraces 103 

The  Issik  Kul  Basin 105 

The  early  basin  deposits 105 

The  piedmont  slopes  and  valleys 106 

I-  The  recent  changes  of  Issik  Kul log 

•  Relations  of  the  river  Chu  to  Issik  Kul 1 1 1 

Notes  on  archeology 114 

/  Conclusion 117 

List  of  references 118 

Physiographic  Observations  Between  the  Syr  Darya  and  Lake 
Kara  Kul,  on  the  Pamir,  in  1903. 

Description  of  the  route 123 

Detailed  observations 132 

In  the  Alai  Valley 13-3 

In  the  Kizil-Art  Valley 136 

Moraines  137 

On  the  Pamir 138 

Ancient  shorelines  and  sediments  of  the  Great  Kara  Kul  Basin 138 

Observations  on  the  glacial  geology  of  the  Great  Kara  Kul  Basin 140 

The  Kara  Jilga  moraine 142 

Observations  in  the  region  of  Kizil  Kul 143 

Fluctuations  of  lake  level  and  glacial  advances  explained  by  climatic  changes 143 

Glacial  epochs 145 

Form  of  the  great  Alai  Valley 146 

The  valley  itself 146 

Side  tributaries 146 

Explanation  of  conditions 147 

Observations  in  the  Taldic  Valley 148 

Observations  on  the  southern  border  of  the  Fergana  lowland  plains 151 

Attempt  at  correlation  of  recent  geology  of  the  mountains  and  plains 153 

Miscellaneous  observations  on  the  lowland  plains ISS 

Conclusion 155 


CONTENTS.  VII 

A  Geological  and  Physiographic  Reconnaissance  in  Central 

Turkestan.  p^^^ 

Itinerary 159 

Plan  of  report 160 

The  Paleozoic  series 160 

The  Mesozoic-Tertiary  series 163 

■  Comparison  with  American  formations 166 

The  Tertiary  peneplain 167 

The  Quaternary  uplift 169 

Consequent  drainage . . '. '. 169 

Long  continuance  of  processes  of  deposition  and  uplift 170 

Physiographic  provinces 171 

The  Tian  Shan  Plateau 171 

The  Kashgar  Basin 175 

Subsidiary  basins 176 

Loess  178 

The  Alai  Mountains 178 

The  Alai  Valley 179 

The  Fergana  Basin 181 

The  Quaternary  period 182 

Glaciation 182 

Distribution  of  glaciers  and  amount  of  erosion 182 

The  subdivision  of  the  glacial  period  in  Asia 183 

An  older  and  a  younger  glacial  epoch 184 

Five  glacial  epochs 186 

Moraines  of  the  Jukuchak  Valley 186 

Moraines  of  the  eastern  Khoja  Ishken  Valley 187 

Moraines  of  the  Mudirum  Basin igo 

Moraines  of  the  Yak  Tash  Basin 192 

Moraines  of  the  Kan  Su  Valley 193 

Moraines  of  the  Taka  Valley 196 

Summary  of  the  glacial  period 199 

Comparison  of  the  glaciation  of  Asia  with  that  of  America  and  Europe 200 

Terraces 201 

Lakes 208 

Sunnnary 214 

The  Basin  of  Eastern  Persia  and  Sistan. 

Introduction 219 

Route 220 

Literature 221 

Outline  of  report 222 

The  physiography  of  Eastern  Persia 225 

Climate :   The  cause  of  the  desolation  of  Persia 227 

The  basin  region  of  Iran 230 

The  tvvo  basins  of  Iran 230 

Geological  history  of  the  basins 232 

Illustrations  of  the  geological  history  of  northeastern  Persia 233 

The  mountains  of  Khorasan 233 

Kopet  Dagh 233 

The  Meshed  Basin 235 

The  Kuchan  earthquake 236 

The  Binalud  range  and  the  ncigiiboring  basins 237 

The  Afghan  depression 237 

The  Heri  Rud  Valley 237 

The  extinct  lake  of  Zorabad 239 

The  Afghan  depression  south  of  the  Russo-Afghan  boundary 240 


V 


VIII  CONTENTS. 

Page. 

The  Tertiary  history  of  the  basin  of  Eastern  Persia 242 

Persia  as  a  typical  example  of  an  arid  country 246 

The  cycle  of  erosion  and  deposition  in  Persia 246 

Youth  246 

Maturity 247 

Old  age 251 

Persia  as  an  example  of  the  influence  of  changes  of  climate 253 

]/  Theories  of  terrace  formation 254 

Examples  of  terraces 254 

The  northern  slope  of  Kopet  Dagh 254 

The  Murg-ab  River 257 

The  Heri  Rud 258 

Tlie  lake  of  Kogneh  Nemeksar 260 

The  Salt  lake  of  Pul-i-Khatun 263 

Nemeksar,  or  the  playa  of  Khaf 264 

Kulbcrcnj   265 

Terraces  among  the  mountains  from  Meshed  to  Birjand 266 

The  terraces  on  the  borders  of  the  Dasht-i-I,iit 267 

Terraces  in  Turkey 271 

Terraces  in  North  America 272 

The  nature  and  the  method  "f  action  of  the  Quaternary  climatic  changes  of  Eastern  Persia.  273 

Sistan  276 

The  Helmund  River 276 

Description  of  Sistan 277 

The  delta  of  the  Helmund 281 

The  Shila  and  the  Ciod-i-Zirrah 283 

The  Quaternary  era  in  Sistan 285 

The  deposits  of  the  lake  of  Sistan 285 

Lake  deposits  versus  playa  deposits 286 

The  cause  of  the  alternations  of  the  Sistan  strata 288 

Outlet  theory 288 

Diversion  theory 288 

Rhythmic   warping  theory 289 

Fluvial  or  lacustral  theory 290 

The  gravels  of  Sistan 291 

The  terraces  of  Sistan 293 

Northwest  side  of  the  lake 293 

Southeast  side  of  the  lake 295 

Modern  shorelines 295 

Younger  abandoned  shorelines 295 

Older  abandoned  shorelines 299 

Climate  and  history 302 

■^       The  ancient  climate  of  Iran 302 

Alexander's  march 303 

The  desiccation  of  ancient  ruins 30S 

Neh 306 

The  Merv  oasis 307 

Bal  Kuwi  and  Anau 307 

The  northern  border  of  the  Dasht-i-Lut 308 

The  cause  of  the  depopulation  of  Iran 308 

The  legendary  history  of  Sistan 312 

Agreement  of  legend,  history,  and  physiography 313 

Bibliography 316 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PLATES. 

Pacing;  Pftge. 

Plate  i.     Decorated  pottery  from  the  Anau  tumulus g 

2.  Map  sho»-ing  route  from  Langar  to  Kara  Kul 136 

3.  Map  of  Southern  Turkestan 157 

4.  Map  of  Iran 217 

5.  Sections  of  lake  deposits  from  various  locations  along  the  northwestern  shore 

of  the  Lake  of  Sistan 284 

6.  Map  of  Sistan 288 

TEXT    FIGURES. 

Page. 

Fic.   I.     Section  of  the  trenched  tumulus  at  Anau 8 

2.  The  trench  in  the  Anau  tumulus 8 

3.  The  maul  in  the  Anau  tumulus 8 

4.  Section  through  a  small  muffle-shaped  object  in  the  Anau  tumulus 9 

5.  Remains  of  earthen  wall  in  the  Anau  tumulus 10 

6.  Plateau  of  accumulated  debris  of  occupation  in  Ghiaur  Kala 11 

7.  Paikent,  a  sand-buried  city , 12 

8.  A  mosque  of  the  mediaeval  Samarkand 13 

9.  Water-pool  system  in  the  culture  accumulations  of  ancient  Samarkand 14,  IS 

ID.  Sketch  of  the  uplands  across  the  Bosporus,  looking  eastward  from  near  Robert 

College,  north  of  Constantinople 26 

11.  Bird's-eye  diagram  of  the  Bosporus  at  its  exit  from  the  Black  Sea 26 

12.  Sketch  of  headland  and  foreland,  west  of  Samsun,  south  coast  of  Black  Sea 27 

13.  Profile  of  elevated  shorelines  east  of  Trebizonde,  south  coast  of  Black  Sea 27 

14.  Diagram  to  illustrate  the  occurrence  of  gravels  near  Trebizonde 28 

15.  Sketch  map  of  the  district  southwest  of  Baku 29 

16.  An  old  Caspian  shoreline,  near  Baku 30 

17.  Three-mile  section  of  ridge,  6  miles  northeast  of  Baku,  looking  north 31 

18.  The  oil-wells  of  Bibi-Eibat,  2  miles  south  of  Baku,  looking  south 31 

19.  A  cobble  spit  on  a  ridge  near  Zuyk,  7  miles  northeast  of  Baku,  looking  north 32 

20.  Rough  sketch  map  and  sections  of  the  district  about  Krasnovodsk 34 

21.  An  elevated  Caspian  shoreline  in  the  Balkhan  Mountains,  near  Jebel  station 35 

22.  Dissected  terraces  at  the  base  of  the  Kopet  Dagh,  south  of  the  Kizil-.A.r\'at 42 

23.  Sand-hills  near  Bakharden,  looking  south 43 

24.  A  barkhan  near  Bakharden,  looking  south 44 

25.  A  village  of  Turkoman  kibitkas,  near  Kizil-Arvat 45 

26.  Geological  outline  map  of  the  Kopet  Dagh,  southwest  of  Askhabad 46 

27.  Terraces  in  the  Serani  Valley,  looking  northwest 49 

28.  Two-mile  profile  of  terraces  at  Namali,  looking  east 51 

29.  Two-mile  section  of  synclinal  valley,  southeast  of  Namali SI 

30.  Two-mile  profile  of  terraces  in  the  Duruigiar  Valley,  looking  east 52 

31.  Scheme  of  terrace  development S3 

32.  The  central  mound  of  Ghiaur  Kala,  from  60  to  80  feet  high,  in  Old  Mer\- s6 

33.  Sand  dunes  south  of  Charjui,  looking  northwest 57 

34.  Diagram  of  railroad  cut,  south  of  Jizak S9 

35.  Diagram  of  loess  drifts,  near  Kara-bulak,  looking  south 62 

36.  Kambar-Ali,  tlie  min-bashi  of  Kugart 65 

Z7-    The  min-bashi  of  Kugart  and  his  men 66 

38.  Kuve-Gen-Shigai-ef,  his  younger  wife,  and  children,  and  our  head  man,  Ma'raim. . .  67 

IX 


X  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Page. 

Fig.  39.     Kuve-Gen-Shigai-ef  and  some  of  his  men  at  Akh  Tash,  Son  Kul 68 

40.  The  flaHopped  Bural-bas-taii,  looking  southeast ■;j 

41.  The  flat -topped  Bural-bas-tau,  looking  south j^ 

42.  Distant  profile  of  the  Ale.xander  Range,  looking  west 75 

43.  Rough  sketch  map  of  the  ranges  southwest  of  Issik  Kul 75 

44.  Ideal  section  from  range  C  to  D,  figure  43,  looking  east 76 

45.  A  tarentass  at  a  station  on  the  post-road  between  Vyernyi  and  Semipalatinsk. . .  77 

46.  Rough  outline  of  the  Dsungarian  .\la-tau,  looking  south 77 

47.  Rough  sketch  of  a  range  near  Abukumof  Station,  looking  south 78 

48.  The  rolling  steppe  north  of  Sergiopol.  Semipalatinsk 79 

49.  The  Chalai  Range  from  Kuni-ashu  Pass  in  the  Kok-tal  Range,  Jooking  north. ...  84 

50.  Moraine  in  the  Tuluk  Valley,  looking  west 85 

51.  A  young  moraine  within  the  old  moraine  in  the  Chalai  Range,  looking  north. ...  86 

52.  Snowfield  below  Sutto-bulak  Pass  in  the  Kungei  Ala^au,  looking  southwest. ...  88 

53.  Profile  of  a  cirque  at  the  head  of  a  normal  valley 90 

54.  Cirque  in  the  Kalkagar-tau 90 

55.  Cirques  in  the  Kalkagar-tau 91 

SO.     Cirque  near  Sutto-bulak  Pass,  Kungei  Ala-tau 91 

57.  General  cross-section  of  the  Narin  formation,  looking  east 92 

58.  A  small  monocline  in  tihe  Narin  formation,  looking  east 93 

59.  Three-mile  section  through  Ulu-tuz  gorge,  looking  east 93 

60.  The  Alabuga  Valley,  looking  north 94 

61.  Four-mile  section  across  the  northern  border  of  the  Narin  formation,  looking  east.  95 

62.  Fifteen-mile  section  across  the  Kach-kar  Basin,  looking  east 96 

63.  Terraces  of  the  (western)  Kugart,  looking  northeast 98 

64.  Three-mile  section  across  the  (western)  Kugart  Valley,  looking  northeast 99 

65.  Gorge  of  Dhe  (western)  Kugart,  above  Taran  Bazaar,  looking  east 99 

66.  One-mile  section  of  gorge  in  the  (western)  Kugart  Valley,  looking  northeast. . .  100 

67.  Upper  terrace  of  the  (eastern)  Kugart,  near  the  Kirghiz  Bridge 100 

68.  Gravel  bluff  in  the  terraces  of  the  (eastern)  Kugart,  looking  south loi 

69.  Ten-mile  section  of  a  landslide  in  the  (eastern)  Kugart  Valley,  looking  northeast.  102 

70.  Two-mile  section  of  terraces  in  Alabuga  Valley,  looking  east 102 

71.  Three-mile  section  of  terraces  at  the  junction  of  the  Alabuga  and  Narin  rivers. .  103 

72.  Ideal  section  of  terraces 104 

73.  A  drowned  vaJley  in  the  plain  at  the  east  end  of  Issik  Kul,  looking  northeast. . . .  108 

74.  Shorelines  of  Issik  Kul  at  the  northwest  end   (A),  the  middle   (B),  and  the 

northeast  end  (C)  of  the  lake 109 

75.  Diagram  of  the  relation  of  a  valley,  the  raised  beaches,  and  the  present  shoreline 

of  Issik  Kul no 

76.  Profile  of  the  Issik  Kul  shorelines  on  a  granitic  headland,  looking  west in 

77.  Effect  of  tilting  on  an  inclosed  lake  ;  uplift  on  the  right 112 

78.  Effect  of  tilting  on  an  inclosed  lake;  uplift  on  the  left 112 

79.  Stone  circles  near  Lake  Son  Kul 114 

80.  A  carved  stone  on  the  plain  at  the  east  end  of  Issik  Kul,  looking  south 116 

81.  A  skeleton  map  of  Fergana 123 

82.  Map  of  the  Pamir,  taken  from  Sven  Hedin's  map 124 

83.  A  Kirghiz  caravan  on  its  way  to  the  Alai  Valley 125 

84.  A  poplar  tree  in  the  Taldic  Valley 125 

83.  Looking  up  the  Taldic  Valley  at  the  entrance  to  the  broad  plain  of  Ak-Busa-Ga.  126 

86.  Ak-Busa-Ga 127 

87.  Looking  across  the  Alai  Valley  to  the  Trans-Alai  Mountains 127 

88.  The  Kirghiz  in  the  Alai  Valley 128 

89.  Looking  down  the  Kara  Kul  from  Uy  Bulak  Pass 130 

90.  Deflated  bowlder  of  granite 131 


ILLUSTRATIONS.  XI 

Page. 
Fig.   91.    Deflated  bowlder  of  granite,  hollowed  side  facing  east 131 

92.  A  talus-shrouded  mass  of  crystalline  limestone 131 

93.  A  glacial  bowlder  of  crystalline  limestone  cracking  from  the  changes  of  tem- 

perature     131 

94.  Common  type  of  weathered  bowlders 132 

95.  A  kettle-hole  lake  on  the  moraine  extending  from  the  Kurumdi  mass  trans- 

versely into  the  Alai  Valley 133 

96.  Section  of  Alai  Valley  transverse  moraine 134 

97.  Ideal  section  of  "  twice  troughed  "  valley 134 

98.  Section  across  Kizil-Art  Valley  at  Bor  Daba,  looking  north 135 

99.  Profile  to  show  moraines  and  terraces  of  the  Kizil-Art  Valley 136 

100.     The  northern  peninsula  of  Kara  Kul 138 

loi.    An  east- west  section  of  the  Kara  Kul  Basin 139 

102.  Section  of  Kara  Kul  sediments  exposed  in  hillock  bluff 139 

103.  Moraine  of  the  Kara  Kul  Basin,  looking  northwest  to  the  older  moraine 140 

104  and  105.     Sediment  pushed  up  by  an  overriding  moraine 141 

106.  Concretionary  growths  of  calcium  sulphate 141 

107.  Looking  north  from  the  front  of  the  Kara  Jilga  moraine  to  the  Kizil  Kul  steppe.  142 

108.  The  valley  heading  a  little  west  of  Kizil-Art  and  joining  the  Kizil  Kul  steppe..  .   143 

109.  Drowned  valleys  on  the  west  side  of  the  north  peninsula 144 

1 10.  Section  looking  north  up  the  Sari  Tash  Valley 147 

111.  The  eastern  side  of  the  Sari  Tash  Valley  from  about  5  versts  below  Katin-Art 

Pass 148 

1 12.  Remnants  of  Floor  A,  as  seen  looking  down  from  just  below  Taldic  Pass 148 

113.  Taldic  Valley  terraces,  looking  up  the  Taldic  Valley  from  Floor  B,  about  63 

versts  above  Gulcha 149 

114.  Taldic  Valley  terraces,  looking  up  the  Taldic  Valley  from  Floor  C,  about  46 

versts  above  Gulcha 149 

115.  Map  of  the  Ak-Busa-Ga  grass  plain  and  stream  channels 150 

116.  Section  to  show  double  change  of  slope  in  Langar  gullies 152 

117.  Section  en  route,  20  versts  north  of  Langar,  loking  15°  south  of  west 152 

118.  Explanatory  diagram  for  example  in  determining  relative  antiquity  of  horizons 

of  the  waste  on  the  plains 154 

119.  The  sharp  peaks  south  of  the  Alai  crest 155 

120.  Sketch  map  of  Central  Turkestan 160 

121.  Sketch  map  showing  location  of  fig.  120 161 

122.  Folds  in  the  limestone  in  the  Sugun  Valley,  west  of  Shor  Kul,  looking  west. .. .  163 

123.  Ripple-marks  on  the  lower  half  of  the  pink  sandstone  near  Kan  Su 164 

124.  Cross-section  of  the  Tian  Shan  Plateau 172 

125.  Scene  in  the  Yak  Tash  Basin,  in  the  northern  part  of  the  Tian  Shan  Plateau. . .  173 

126.  View  of  the  Tertiary  strata  on  the  edge  of  the  Kashgar  Basin 175 

127.  Fault  scarp  on  the  southern  side  of  the  Kuzzil  Oi  Basin,  with  a  smooth  deposit 

of  silt  lying  in  front  of  it 176 

128.  Drainage  of  the  Kuzzil  Oi  and  Min  Yol  basins 177 

129.  Gorge  of  the  Ispairan  in  its  lower  portion 179 

130.  Limestone  gorge  of  the  western  Kichik  Alai 180 

131.  Longitudinal  section  of  the  Khoja  Ishken  or  Kok  Su  Valley 187 

132.  Youngest  gorge  in  the  Khoja  Ishken 188 

133.  Marble  bowlders  and  beginning  of  the  gorge  associated  with  the  fourth  Khoja 

Ishken  glacier 189 

134.  Cross-sections  of  the  Khoja  Ishken  Valley 190 

135.  Cross-sections  of  the  three  gorges  of  the  Khoja  Ishken  Valley 190 

136.  Sketch  map  showing  the  location  of  the  Mudinmi  moraines 191 


XII  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Ptt|?e. 

Fig.  137.    Cross-section  of  the  Kan  Su  Valley  at  an  elevation  of  1 1,000  feet 194 

138.  Plan  of  the  moraines  of  the  Taka  Valley iq6 

139.  Cross-section  of  the  Taka  Valley,  looking  north 197 

140.  View  down  the  Kuzzil  Su  on  the  eastern  border  of  Bokhara,  showing  a  gravel- 

filled  valley  which  has  been  re-excavated 203 

141.  Terraces  and  meanders  of  another  Kuzzil  Su  near  Chadir  Kul,  on  the  Tian 

Shan  Plateau,  at  an  elevation  of  1 1,000  feet 204 

142.  Terrace  wall  of  the  Kan  Su,  west  of  Kashgar,  showing  horizontal  gravel  above 

tilted  Mesozoic  strata 205 

143.  Terraces  of  the  Kok  Kiya,  on  the  Tian  Shan  Plateau,  at  an  elevation  of  11,500 

feet  206 

144.  Cross-section  of  the  Ispairan  Valley,  showing  successive  periods  of  cutting  and 

filling 207 

145.  Shor  Kul,  looking  south 209 

146.  North  and  south  section  of  the  plain  of  Shor  Kul  from  the  lake  to  the  moun- 

tains of  Dungsugot 212 

147.  Cross-seotion  of  a  valley  cut  in  the  silt  at  Dungsugot 212 

148.  The  gravel-covered   lacustrine  deposits   at   Dungsugot,  illustrating  the   same 

features  as  the  preceding  diagrams 213 

149.  Windmills  at  Tabas 228 

150.  Horizontal  section  of  a  Persian  windmill 228 

151.  Ruins  at  the  Mil-i-Kasimaibad,  near  ZaJiidan 229 

152.  Sketch  map  of  the  double  basin  of  Iran 231 

153.  The  ruins  of  Old  Kuchan 236 

154.  North  and  soutli  section  along  the  Heri  Rud  at  Pul-i-Khatun 238 

155.  Section  near  Kliitayi,  on  the  southern  border  of  the  2U)rabad  Basin 239 

156.  North  and  south  section  along  die  Anau  Brook,  across  the  Anau  fault  block. . .  255 

157.  Terraces  of  the  Heri  Rud,  near  Khatayi 260 

158.  Sketch  map  of  Kogneh  Lake  and  the  Jam  Basin 261 

159.  A  slightly  terraced  valley  in  the  mountains  of  Binalud  Kuh,  30  miles  north  of 

Turbat-i-Haideri,  March  3,  1904 266 

160.  Terraces  in  the  valley  of  Haji  Plussein  Beg  in  the  Ohahak  Basin 267 

161.  The  town  of  Bajistan,  looking  east 268 

162.  Terraces  at  the  northeastern  corner  of  the  Bajistan  Basin 269 

164.  A  typical  portion  of  the  gravel  desert  northeast  of  Sistan 278 

165.  A  raft  of  reeds  poled  by  a  sayid,  or  "  fowler,"  on  the  edge  of  the  swamp  of  Sistan.  279 

166.  An  arm  of  the  Lake  of  Sistan 280 

167.  Canals  in  the  delta  of  the  Helmund  at  Sistan 282 

168.  Ideal  cross-section  of  the  mesa  of  Kuh-i-Khoja 286 

169.  Ideal  cross-section  of  the  lake  terraces  and  bluffs  on  the  northwest  shore  of  the 

Lake  of  Sistan 294 

170.  Lacustrine  bluffs  and  recent  sand  dunes  near  Seh-kuheh 296 

171.  Abandoned  beach  and  lacustrine  bluffs  at  Sebazkim 297 

172.  Old  lake  beach  at  Sebazkim,  looking  wes-t 298 

173.  Ideal  cross-section  of  the  old  lacustrine  beaoh  at  Sebazkim 298 

174.  Sketch  map  of  the  ancient  shore  features  in  the  Bay  of  Sebazkim 299 


ARCHEOLOGICAL  AND  PHYSICO-GEOGRAPHICAL 
RECONNAISSANCE  IN  TURKESTAN 


Archeological  and  Physico-Geographical 
Reconnaissance  in  Turkestan. 


BY  Raphael  Pumpelly. 


INTRODUCTION. 

At  the  end  of  1902  the  Carnegie  Institution  voted  a  grant  to  nie  "for  the 
purpose  of  making,  during  the  year  1903,  a  preliminar}-  examination  of  the  Trans- 
Caspian  region,  and  of  collecting  and  arranging  all  available  existing  infonnation 
necessar>-  in  organizing  the  further  investigation  of  the  past  and  present  physico- 
geographical  conditions  and  archeological  remains  of  the  region." 

The  investigation  was  proposed  because  (i)  there  is  a  school  that  still  holds  the 
belief  that  central  Asia  is  the  region  in  which  the  great  civilizations  of  the  far  East 
and  of  the  West  had  their  origins ;  and  (2)  because  of  the  supposed  occurrence 
in  that  region,  in  prehistoric  times,  of  great  changes  in  climate,  resulting  in  the 
fonnation  and  recession  of  an  extensive  Asian  Mediterranean,  of  which  the  .\ral, 
Caspian,  and  Black  seas  are  the  principal  remnants. 

It  had  long  seemed  to  me  that  a  study  of  Central-Asian  archeolog\-  would 
probably  yield  important  e\-idence  in  the  genealogy-  of  the  great  civilizations  and 
of  several,  at  least,  of  the  dominant  races,  and  that  a  parallel  study  of  the  traces  of 
physical  changes  during  Qxiaternar)-  time  might  show  some  coincidence  between 
the  phases  of  social  evolution  and  the  changes  in  enviromnent ;  further,  that  it  miglil 
be  possible  to  correlate  the  physical  and  human  records  and  thus  funiish  a  contri- 
bution to  the  tinie  scale  of  recent  geology. 

At  my  request  Professor  William  M.  Davis  assumed  charge  of  the  plnsico- 
geographical  part  of  the  preliminary  reconnaissance. 

ITINERARY. 

I  left  Boston  March  18,  accompanied  by  Mr.  K.  W.  Pumpelly  as  assistant,  and 
stopping  over  at  London,  Paris,  and  P.erlin,  reached  St.  Peter.sburg  on  April  23. 
There  I  had  to  remain  several  weeks  to  perfect  arrangements  and  obtain  the  papers 
nece-ssar}.-  for  an  extended  journey  in  Turkestan.  On  May  15  we  left  St.  Petersburg, 
with  Mr.  Serge  de  Brovtziu  as  interpreter,  and  having  been  joined  at  Baku  by 
Professor  Davis  and  Mr.  Ellsworth  Huntington,  a  research  assistant  of  the  Carnegie 
Institvition  of  Washington,  we  cro.ssed  the  Caspian. 

I  found  throughout  our  sta>-  in  Turkestan  that  orders   had  been  sent  froin  St. 
Petersburg  to  assist  the  expedition  in  all  ways,  and  ever)  thing  was  done  to  facilitate 

0 


4  i;Xl'l,ORATIONS    IN    TURKKSTAN. 

tlie  work.  Prince  Hilkofs  orders  (>l)tained  for  us  tlic  continuous  use  of  a  car 
throughout  our  stay  in  Turkestan. 

While  I  became  deeply  indebted  to  the  general  hospitality  of  all  with  whom  we 
came  in  contact,  I  am  under  special  obligations  to  several  gentlemen  to  whose  ready 
assistance  the  expedition  owes  much  of  its  success.  From  their  excellencies  Count 
Cassini  and  the  Hon.  Joseph  H.  Choate,  Assistant  Secrctan-  of  State  Mr.  Herl)ert 
Pierce,  and  Baron  \-on  Richthofen  I  reccixed  \alual)le  letters  to  St.  Petersburg. 
There,  from  His  K.xcellency  Mr.  Semenof,  vice-president  of  the  Imperial  Geograph- 
ical Society,  1  had  letters  of  great  importiuice  to  high  authorities  in  Turkestan,  as 
well  as  from  Generals  Stubendorf  and  Artemonof.  Valuable  assistance  was  rendered 
b}-  Mr.  McCormick,  our  ambassador,  and  Mr.  Ridler,  secretar}-  of  the  embassy. 

Their  Excellencies  Prince  Hilkof,  Minister  of  Ways  and  Communications ;  Mr. 
Plehve,  Minister  of  the  Interior,  and  Mr.  Yermolof,  Minister  of  Agriculture,  gave 
me  circular  letters  to  all  the  employees  of  their  departments ;  while  from  the  office 
of  the  Minister  of  War,  who  has  control  of  Turkestan,  orders  were  telegraphed  to 
extend  any  desired  aid  to  the  members  of  the  expedition.  ]\I)-  plans  were  also 
cordially  furthered  by  the  Imperial  Academy  of  Sciences  at  St.  Petersburg,  which 
passed  a  resolution  asking  the  Minister  of  the  Interior  to  facilitate  our  journe>- ;  by 
Mr.  Karpinsky,  then  director  of  the  Imperial  Geological  vSun'ey ;  Professor  Schmidt, 
and  Mr.  Bogdanovitch,  and  by  Mr.  Tchernachef,  now  director  of  the  Imperial 
Geological  Sur\'e)'. 

In  Turkestan  we  enjoyed  the  hospitality  and  assistance  of  their  Excellencies 
the  Governor-General  and  Madame  Ivanof ;  General  Mediusky,  governor  of  Sam- 
arkand; General  Nalifkin,  vice-governor  of  Fergana,  and  Madam  Nalif kin  ;  (General 
Ussakovsky,  governor  of  Transcaspia;  Colonel  and  Madame  \'olkovnikof,  local 
governor  of  Krasuovodsk ;  Colonel  Kukol-Yasnoiwlski,  governor  of  Askhabad ; 
General  Ulianin,  director  of  the  Trans-Caspian  railwaj- ;  General  Poslovsk}-,  General 
Gedeonof,  and  Colonel  Poulovtsoff.  I  owe  the  success  of  our  Pamir  expedition  largely 
to  the  active  interest  and  help  of  Colonel  Zaitza,  governor  of  Osh.  To  Baron 
Cherkasof,  political  agent  at  Bokhara,  I  owe  nuich  for  his  kindness  during  my  visit 
to  that  place.  At  Old  Mer\'  we  were  entertained  with  great  hospitality  bj-  Mr. 
Dubosof,  superintendent  of  the  Imperial  estate. 

Using  the  railroad  as  a  base  and  having  horses  and  escorts  wherever  needed, 
we  made  flj'iug  excursions  to  many  points,  at  different  distances  from  the  railroad, 
both  in  going  and  coming. 

From  Askhabad  we  made  an  excursion  across  the  mountains  of  Khorassan  into 
Persia,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Yanchevetzki,  the  secretar)-  of  the  governor,  and  his 
intimate  acquaintance  with  the  water  problems  and  with  the  countrj-  from  the  Aral 
south  was  of  great  use  to  us.  On  our  return  to  Askhabad  we  were  joined  by  Mr. 
Richard  Norton,  who  accompanied  me  throughout  the  journey. 

The  next  stop  was  at  Old  Mer\',  where  we  spent  sex-eral  days  among  the  exten- 
sive ruins.  Thence,  passing  by  Bokhara,  and  making  only  a  preliminary  visit  to 
Samarkand,  we  went  to  Tashkent,  the  residence  of  the  governor-general  of  Turkes- 
tan.     Here  the  party  divided.  Professor  Da\is  and  Mr.  Huntington  going  eastward 


SKICTCH    OF    TIIK    UKCION.  5 

to  Issik  Kill,  where,  after  a  month  of  joint  work,  they  separated,  Mr.  Davis  returning 
to  America  via  Omsk  and  St.  Petersbnro;,  and  Mr.  Huntinj^ton  going  on  to  Kashgar. 

After  Taslikent,  I  visited  Marghilan  and  Andizhan,  the  end  of  tlie  raihoad. 

Continuing  our  journey  to  Osh,  at  the  entrance  of  the  mountain  region,  we 
organized  an  expedition  to  the  Pamir,  with  the  courteous  aid  of  its  governor,  Colonel 
Zaitza.  The  wa\-  to  the  Pamir  covered  part  of  the  route  and  two  of  the  passes,  the 
Terek  and  Taldik,  in  one  of  the  great  currents  of  ancient  trade  between  China  and 
western  Asia,  and  it  promised  light  on  the  physico-geographical  part  of  our  problem. 
After  returning  from  the  Pamir  we  visited  tlie  ruins  of  Ak-si,  in  the  northern  part  of 
Khokand,  beyond  the  vS\r  Dar)a,  and  examined  the  mined  sites  of  Samarkand,  and 
of  Paikent  in  Bokhara  and  a  trenched  tumulus  at  Anau  near  Askhabad. 

Throughout  the  journey,  both  by  rail  and  in  the  side  excursions,  we  had 
occasion  to  note  the  existence  and  position  of  a  great  number  of  former  sites  of 
occupation,  both  towns  and  tunuili. 

It  had  been  my  wish  to  examine  Balkh,  the  site  of  ancient  Bactra,  and  other 
ruins  of  northern  Afghanistan,  but  this  was  found  to  be  impossible  on  account  of 
the  hostile  attitude  of  the  Afghans  toward  even  Russians. 

OUTLINE  SKETCH  OF  THE  REGION. 

A  glance  at  a  map  of  the  Eurasian  continent  shows  that  the  three  seas,  the 
Aral,  Caspian,  and  Black,  occupy  parts  of  one  great  basin,  bounded  on  the  south 
and  east  by  great  mountains,  and  on  the  north  by  the  Aral-Arctic  divide. 

If  the  Bosporus  were  closed  and  there  should  exist  a  continued  excess  of 
rainfall  o\-er  evaporation,  these  seas  would  merge  and  the  basin  would  fill  till  it 
overflowed  into  the  Northern  Ocean.  The  area  of  tliis  Asian  Mediterranean  woidd 
be  detennined  by  the  height  of  the  northern  divide,  which  is  as  yet  unknown.  In 
any  e\ent,  it  would  be  sufficient  to  submerge  a  large  part  of  southern  Russia  and 
much  of  Russian  Turkestiin. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  there  should  be  a  continued  increase  of  excess  of  e\-apo- 
ration,  the  seas  would  dp*-  up ;  the  whole  basin  would  be  transfonned  into  a  \-ast 
desert,  on  the  borders  of  which  the  retreating  river  mouths  would  be  lost  in  the 
sands.  Turkestan,  once  largely  covered  by  water,  is  now  in  a  .state  approaching 
this  condition  of  aridit\-.  The  greater  basin  is  broken  up  into  smaller,  disconnected 
ones,  of  which  only  the  Black  Sea  has  an  outlet.  The  Aral  stands  159  feet  above 
the  ocean,  the  Black  Sea  practically  at  ocean  level,  the  Caspian  84  feet  below  ocean 
le\el.  The  great  \'olga  and  several  small  streams  reach  the  Caspian ;  east  of  the 
Caspian  only  two  rivers,  the  Syr  and  AmuQaxartes  andOxu.s),  reach  the  Aral;  and 
they  gather  water  only  at  their  sources  in  snow-clad  mountains ;  all  other  streams 
are  consumed  by  direct  evaporation  and  irrigation  and  have  short  courses,  ending  in 
desert  sand. 

According  to  Schwartz,  al)out  three-quarters  of  all  this  va.st  region  is  desert 
and  one-quarter  is  capable  of  sujiporting  the  herds  of  the  nomads.  Water  can  be 
distributed  on  about  2  per  cent  of  the  entire  area,  on  land  free  from  drifted  sands. 


6  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKKSTAN. 

Along  the  base  of  the  southern  mountains  stretches  a  chain  of  narrow  oases  at 
the  mouths  of  the  mountain  valleys  ;  there  are  other  very  narrow  strips  alonj^  the 
larger  river  courses,  and  more  extensive  areas  inclosed  between  the  projecting 
spurs  of  the  eastern  mountains  ;  all  the  rest  of  the  basin  has  become  the  pre>-  of 
the  mo\ing  sands,  which  are  still  ver\-  slowly  but  surely  invading  the  oases.  The 
boundary  is  sharply  defined  ;  within  it  is  high  cultivation ;  beyond  it  is  a  sea  of 
waves  of  sand. 

As  they  extend  eastward  the  southern  mountains  increase  in  height,  till  both 
they  and  the  great  spurs  of  the  Tian  Shan,  giant  snow  and  ice  co\-ered  crests  and 
peaks,  dominate  the  oases  which  are  the  offspring  of  their  waters.  It  is  on  these 
mountains  of  snow  and  ice  that  the  life  of  the  whole  region  is  and  has  been  from 
a  remote  period  absolutely  dependent. 

This  life  is  also  limited  by  another  factor — itself  a  result  of  the  desiccation — 
the  moving  sands.  For,  other  things  remaining  equal,  while  the  shrinkage  of  the 
water  areas  can  continue  only  till  equilibrium  between  supph'  and  evaporation  is 
reached,  and  while  there  might  be  also  cyclical  periods  of  revivif\'ing  afflux,  these 
compensations  are  offset  in  the  oa.ses  by  the  slow  but  steadily  overwhelming  pro- 
gress of  the  sands. 

The  progressive  desiccation  of  Turkestan  is  shown  by  direct  obser\-ations 
during  the  past  centim-,  by  artificial  landmarks,  by  historical  statements,  and  by 
natural  records.  The  Aibughir  Gulf  of  the  Aral  was  133  kilometers  long  and  3,500 
square  kilometers  in  area  in  1842,  and  dr^'  land  in  1S72. 

The  vohime  of  the  Svr  Darva  has  diminished  greatly,  as  shown  by  the  remains 
of  old  irrigating  canals  along  its  whole  lower  course,  which  are  now  too  high  to 
receive  water.  The  statements  of  Arabian  writers  show  that,  within  recent  histor- 
ical times,  there  was  a  far  more  numerous  population  than  the  country  could  support 
now,  when  all  available  water  is  utilized.  Old  water-level  lines  occur  at  various 
heights  up  to  225  feet  above  the  Aral. 

The  progress  is  not  uniform,  but  is  broken  by  periods  of  temporarily  increa.sed 
precipitation.  Dorandt  measured  in  1874-75  a  fall  of  70  mm.  in  the  year  in  the 
Aral  Sea.  Schultz,  in  comparing  his  surveys  of  1880  with  earlier  maps,  found  a 
lowering  of  the  level  of  38  cm.  in  nine  years.  On  the  other  hand.  Berg,  in  1901, 
comparing  the  gage  established  by  Tillo,  found  the  level  121  cm.  higher  than  in 
1874.  He  calculates  the  total  rise  between  1882  and  1901  to  be  at  least  3  meters, 
or  178  nun.  yearly. 

Judging  from  our  observations  and  from  those  of  others,  especially  of  the 
Arabian  writers  and  of  the  later  Russian  explorers,  it  would  seem  that  the  country- 
has  long  been  an  interior  region,  dependent  for  its  life  mainly  on  the  snows 
and  glaciers  of  the  mountains  ;  that  there  have  been  within  the  present  geological 
period  great  fluctuations  in  the  amount  of  water  derived  from  the  mountains,  as 
recorded  in  high  and  low  shorelines  of  the  seas  and  in  the  strata  containing  living 
fonns  left  by  difTerent  expansions  of  the  united  waters  of  the  Aral  and  Caspian,  and 
that  man  already  existed  within  the  region  during  at  least  the  last  great  maximum 
of  moisture. 


ANCIENT    SITES.  7 

EVIDENCES  OF  FORMER  OCCUPATION. 

In  our  earliest  historical  records  we  find  the  countr}"  occupied  as  now  by 
dwellers  in  numerous  cities,  surrounded  by  deserts  in  which  lived  nomad  peoples. 
The  town  dwellers  seem  to  have  been  at  least  largeh-  of  Arjan  stock  and  the 
nomads  of  Turanian. 

Who  were  the  contemporaneous  and  the  successive  dwellers  in  the  man\' 
towns?  To  what  different  races  may  they  have  belonged?  Whence  did  they  come 
into  the  land  ?  What  were  their  civilizations  and  what  their  relations  to  other 
civilizations  and  to  those  of  the  modem  world  ?  These  are  our  questions,  and  they 
can  be  answered  onl\-  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  b\-  a  study  of  the  results  of  exca\-a- 
tion  and  in  the  concentrated  light  of  comparati\'e  science  in  archeology,  ethnology, 
and  language  and  of  survivals  in  arts  and  customs  ;  for  the  answers  to  some  of 
these  questions  will  be  found  rooted  deep  in  the  human  strata  of  the  ancient  world. 
Asia  abounds  in  the  fragmentary  survivals  of  stocks,  arts,  customs,  and  languages. 

The  vestiges  of  fonner  occupation  by  man  are  varied  in  character — in  the 
eastern  mountains  are  pictographic  inscriptions  recalling  those  of  American  abo- 
rigines, some  rock  sculpturing,  and  rough  stone  idols.  At  Lake  Son  Kul  Profes.sor 
Davis  describes  stone  circles,  recalling  .some  of  the  dolmen-like  forms,  and  at  I.ssik 
Kul  submerged  buildings  were  reported  in  the  lake. 

Along  the  river  courses  are  abandoned  canals  which  can  no  longer  be  supplied 
with  water,  and  the  Russian  maps  abound  in  indications  of  ruined  towns,  ''  forts," 
etc.     The  most  important  remains  are  the  tumuli  and  the  towoi  sites. 

TUMULI  (OR  KURGANS). 

The  tumuli  proper  are  accunuilations  of  earth,  of  rounded,  generally  synunet- 
rical  fonn,  often  more  or  less  elliptical  in  horizontal  section.  We  met  with  them 
first  along  the  base  of  the  mountains  east  of  the  Caspian,  but  I  saw  none  at  a  lower 
elevation  than  250  feet  above  that  sea.  From  this  point  ea.stward  they  abounded, 
with  some  interruptions,  as  far  as  to  near  Andizhan.  (Tcnerally  the}-  were  large — 
100  to  200  feet  long  and  30  to  50  feet  high.  They  are  nuich  more  abundant  ea.st 
of  the  Oxus  than  to  the  w'est.  At  one  point  I  counted  fifteen  in  sight  at  once. 
Resides  these  larger  tumuli,  there  are,  especially  along  the  Syr  Dania  in  Fergana, 
localities  with  a  great  number  of  small  mounds  a  few  yards  only  in  diameter, 
suggesting  burial  after  battles. 

Mounds  more  or  less  resembling  the  larger  ones  are  described  by  De  Morgan 
at  points  in  northern  Persia,  and  they  occur  through  southern  Siberia  and  on  the 
plains  of  southern  Russia  and  of  Hungary-.  In  all  these  countries  they  probably 
have  different  origins — different  reasons  for  their  existence.  Those  in  Siberia  and 
on  the  Black  Sea  have  been  extensively  excavated.  There  has  been  some  un.satis- 
factor\-  excavation  of  those  in  Turkestan,  mostly  with  unrecorded  results.  The 
kurgan  at  Anau,  near  Askhabad,  which  was  trenched  some  years  ago  by  General 
Komorof,  afforded  the  best  exposure  of  internal  structure.  It  is  nearly  200  feet 
long  by  40  feet  high  and  slightly  elliptical  in  horizontal  section.  It  consists  of 
fine,  horizontalh-  stratified  la\-ers  of  made  earth.     Layers  of  silt  and  broken  col)bles 


8 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


alternate  with  la)-ers  rich  in  g-ray  ashes  and  charcoal,  and  others  of  closely  matted 
fragments  of  potter\-.  Animal  bones,  teeth,  and  jaws,  some  of  which  are  partially 
ailcined,  occur  frequently  in  all  layers,  with  a  few  human  bones  and  skulls.  Sev- 
eral whole  \ases  and  muffle-sliaped  chests,  made  of  coarse  pottery  mixed  with  dung, 
had  been  cut  bv  the  trench.  These  apj^eared  to  contain  only  fine  ashes  and  char- 
coal. Most  of  the  fragmentary  pottery  is  of  this  coarse  quality,  but  there  are  also, 
even  at  the  bottom  of  the  trench,  many  fragments  of  finer  te.xture,  decorated  with 

,  Clay  walls  over 

which  the  strata  bend 


Fig.    I. — Section  of  the  Trenched  Tumulus  at  Anau. 

simple  designs  of  l>lack  on  red.  We  found  sc\cral  granite  stones  with  cnn-cd- 
plane  surface,  which  had  evidently  been  shai)ed  for  mealing  grain  by  the  Dictate 
method,  and  also  a  roughly  spherical  stone,  which  had  apparently  been  pierced  for 
the  insertion  of  a  handle,  then  to  be  used  as  a  maul.  The  whole  character  of  the 
timuilus  shows  that  it  grew  from  the  plain  upwards,  as  a  slow  accmnulation  of  the 
debris  of  long  occupation.  Tlie  fact  that  the  layers,  even  at  the  top,  extend  hori- 
zontally to  the  edges  pro\-es  that  it  was  fonncrly  flat-topped  and  much  larger,  for 
had  it  dming  occupation  ever  assumed  a  spherical  surface  the  gro\rth  would  have 


Fig.  2. — The  Trench  in  the  Anau  Tumulus. 


Fig.  3. — The  Maul  in  the  Anau  Tumulus. 


been  in  concentric  lasers.  The  same  reasoning  would  show  that  it  was  ne\er 
abandoned  for  a  long  time  and  again  occupied.  Since  its  surface  has  not  been 
gullied,  it  seems  possible  that  it  was  shaped  by  wind  action,  although  the  earth  is 
somewhat  finnly  cemented.  General  Komorof  found  one  celt  of  quartzite  and 
some  needles  of  bone,  but  absolutel\-  no  metal.  Of  the  bones,  I  sent  a  representative 
collection  to  Professor  Zittel,  in  Munich,  for  determination. 

One  peculiar  feature  in  the  structure  is  the  interruption  and  bending  over  of 
the  layers  at  the  two  apparent  earth  walls.     (Fig.  5.) 


Turkestan. 


Plate  1. 


DECORATED  POTTERY  FROM  THE  ANAU  TUMULUS. 

TAKEN   FROM   THE  SIDES  AT   BOTTOV   OF   TRENCH    ABOUT   10  FEET  ABOVE   LEVEL  OF   PLAIN.    1903. 


ANCIENT   SITES.  9 

Se\-eral  other  knrgfans  that  we  examined,  which  had  been  partially  cut  awa\- 
for  brick-making,  etc.,  and  .some  of  these  were  much  larger  and  higher  than  that 
at  Anau,  showed  tlie  same  horizontal  stratification  of  earth,  burnt  earth,  a.shes, 
charcoal,  and  fragments  of  bones  and  of  pottery.  In  the  upper  part  of  some  of 
these  we  obser\-ed  traces  of  walls  of  unbunied  bricks.     The  onh-  artifacts  found  in 


Fig.  4. — Section  through  a  Small  MufBe-shaped  Object  in  the  Anau  Tumulus. 

these  were  the  simplest  form  of  flat  stone  for  grinding  grain  (like  those  found  in 
the  Anau  kurgan)  and  some  flat  stones,  each  with  a  hole  drilled  wholh-  or  partially 
through  it  from  both  sides. 

ANCIENT  TOWNS. 


The  absence  of  easih'  obtainable  stone  for  constniction  throughout  the  low- 
lands of  Turkestan  determined  the  use,  almost  exclusiveh-,  in  constniction,  of  clay, 
both  unburned  and  burned.  Unburned  clay  predominated  innnenseh-,  used  both 
as  sun-dried  bricks  and  in  hea\y  layers  of  raw  clay.  In  consequence  of  this,  all 
ruins  older  than  a  late  Mussulman  period  are  represented  only  b\-  accunuilations  of 
earth  filled  with  broken  pottery  and  fragments  of  burned  bricks.  These  accumu- 
lations are  flat-topped  mounds,  ranging  up  to  half  a  square  mile  or  more  in  area 
and  from  15  to  20  feet  upward  in  height,  and  in  places,  as  at  ]VIer\-,  occurring  in 
groups  covering  man}-  square  miles.  They  occur  within  areas  in  which  now,  or 
formerl}-,  water  was  accessible,  and  are  found  iiho  more  or  less  buried  in  sands 
beyond  the  mouths  of  the  retreating  rixers,  in  places  once  fertile  and  now  desolate. 

Ritiiis  near  A/rck  J\iztr.—\  t\pe  of  regional  desolation  and  abandonment  is 
in  the  territory'  between  the  lower  Atrek  and  the  Caspian.  Here,  over  an  area  of 
many  .square  miles,  are  the  ruins  of  cities,  30  or  40  miles  from  the  river  Atrek,  the 


lO 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


nearest  water,  and  in  the  heart  of  the  desert.  The  remains  of  canals  show  that  the 
cities  were  watered  from  tlie  Atrek,  but  the  ri\er  now  lies  too  low  to  feed  the  canals. 

Ancient  Mcrv. — The  ruins  of  ancient  Merv  are  said  to  cover  about  30  square 
miles  and  consist  of  several  cities  of  different  a<j;es.  Two  of  these — the  (Ihiaur 
Kala  and  the  Iskender  Kala — apjicar  to  Ijc  the  more  ancient.  The  remains  of  a 
circular  wall  extend,  with  a  radius  of  about  4  miles,  all  around  these  several  cities.  To 
judge  from  its  degraded  condition,  it  may  possibly  represent  a  \ery  ancient  inclosure, 
within  which  diminishino-  populations  have  rebuilt  after  sticcessive  destructions  by 
war.  Merv  existed  in  remote  antiquity  and  is  one  of  the  cities  mentioned  in  the 
Zend  A\-esta. 

The  walls  of  (ihiaur  Kala,  though  now  reduced  to  a  hillocky  ridge  perhaps  50 
or  60  feel  high,  of  accumulated  debris,  inclose  plateaus  30  to  50  or  more  feet  high. 


-*:^- 


"V<_     J^..  ■■■'«( -«-l-  - '    ■:^     V    '  ^  ".I 


%^'^  i-    ...^T^lfe^-^''    A-.-^x::--:^^*^ 


i  .^^^■ 


.■^^- »  ^MiJf-  -  A.")::-.'' 


^;-"-^^x^:^;:*5^ 


Fig.  5. — Remains  of  Earthen  Wall  in  the  Anau  Tumulus. 


and  a  mound  80  feet  high  which  was  e\-identh-  a  citadel.  From  these  walls  we 
could  see  far  away  on  the  northern  horizon,  in  the  desert,  other  flat-topped  mounds 
apparently  of  great  height  and  extent. 

Ruins  of  Paikent. — The  ruins  of  Paikent  represent  the  t\pe  of  cities  aban- 
doned for  lack  of  water  and  then  buried  by  the  progressing  desert  sands.  Paikent 
was  a  great  center  of  wealth  and  of  connuerce  between  China  and  the  west  and 
south  till  in  the  early  centuries  of  our  era.  The  recessions  of  the  lower  ends  of  the 
Zerafshan  river  brought  its  doom.  Now  onh'  its  citadel  mound  and  the  top  of  parts 
of  its  walls  rise  above  the  waves  of  the  invading  sands.     (Fig.  7.) 

Samarkand. — Next  to  those  of  Merv  the  ruins  of  Samarkand  are  the  most  exten- 
sive. Its  position  must  li  i\-e  made  it  an  important  center  of  commerce  and  wealth 
probabh'  throughout  tlie  whole  period  of  prehistoric  occupation,  as  it  has  been 


AXCIEXT    SITES. 


II 


during  historic  times.  Situated  in  the  heart  of  the  ver>-  fertile  oasis  of  the  Zerafshan 
River,  it  lies  also  on  the  most  open  and  easiest  caravan  routes  connecting  China  and 
eastern  Turkestan  with  Afghanistan,  India,  and  Persia. 

Samarkand  has,  e\-en  within  the  past  two  thousand  \ears,  been  sacked, 
destroyed,  and  rebuilt  man\-  times.  Like  Mer\-,  its  rebuildings  have  often  been  on 
adjoining  sites,  and  the  determining  of  the  whole  area  covered  by  these  various  sites 
remains  to  be  made.  There  is  evidence  that  it  is  ver>-  extensive.  The  most  ancient 
seems  to  be  the  plateau  or  "tell"  called  "Afrosiab,"  to  which  tradition  assigns  the 
site  of  the  vSamarkand  Maracanda  of  Alexander  the  Great.  This  is  a  plateau  of 
"made  earth,"  the  dclms  of  niins,  standing  on  the  "loess"  plain.  It  is  covered 
to  a  great  extent  with  .M(^hannnedan  cemeteries,  with  some  traces  of  Mussulman 


Fig.  6.— Plateau  o(  Accumulated  Debns  of  Occupation  m  Ghraur  Kala. 


occupation,  and  with  fragments  of  potter\-  and  of  bricks.  The  loess  plain  is  deeply 
dissected  b}'  a  stream,  and  several  gullies  have  been  cut  in  both  the  plateau  of  the 
ruins  and  the  loess.  It  is  difficidt  to  distingiiish  between  the  "made  earth"  of  the 
plateau  and  the  underlying  "loe.ss,"  except  through  the  presence  of  fragments  of 
pottery,  charcoal,  and  bones. 

We  found  such  fragments  down  to  a  depth  of  about  40  feet  below  the  general 
surface,  in  the  gullies,  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  thickness  of  debris  is  still 
greater.  Abo\c  this  general  surface  rises  the  citadel  mound  to  an  additional  height 
of  30  to  40  feet,  or  170  feet  abo\-e  the  stream  at  its  base.  Judging  from  the  excel- 
lent topographical  map  of  Afrosiab,  of  the  general  staff,  the  loess  plain  lies  about  50 
feet  above  the  stream.  This  would  make  it  possible  that  the  citadel  mound  repre- 
sents an  accumidation  of  over  100  feet  of  debris.  The  surface  of  the  rest  of  Afrosiab 
is  vers-  irregular.     While  in  general  it  ranges  from  100  to  140  feet  above  the  stream, 


12  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

there  are  numerous  depressions,  the  bottoms  of  which  arc  level  plains,  150  to  300 
feet  in  diameter,  standiiif,'  70  to  80  feet  above  the  stream. 

The  s,a'neral  arranjjement  of  these  depressions  is  such  that  if  filled  witii  water 
thev  would  fonn  a  connected,  irregular  system  of  water-basins  ;  and  there  is  a  clian- 
nel  about  100  feet  wide  which  opens  out  on  the  stream  valley,  after  coninninicating 
with  most  of  the  depressions.  It  all  suggests  a  former  water  s>steni  maintaining 
pleasant  pools  like  those  which  still  form  an  attractive  feature  of  Bokhara. 

The  fonner  walls  of  the  city  are  represented  now  by  ridges  rising  20  or  30  feet 
above  the  surface  within.  Where  the  walls  are  cut  by  gullies  old  galleries  are 
exposed  which  seem  to  luu-e  been  continuous  with  the  wall.  Quintus  Curtius  states 
70  stadia  as  the  extent  of  the  walls  in  the  time  of  Alexander.  This,  if  the  short 
stadia  were  meant,  would  be  about  3  miles,  which  would  be  approximately  the  cir- 
cumference of  that  jDart  of  Samarkand  now  called  Afrosiab. 

As  in  all  Turkestan,  so  at  Samarkand,  the  older  structures  still  standing  are 
those  of  the  Mohannnedan  period.     The  man\-  innnense  and  wonderfully  decorated 


Fig.  7. — Paikent.  a  Sand-buried  City. 

mosques  built  l)y  Tamerlane,  though  now  falling  into  ruin,  belong  among  the 
wonders  of  the  world ;  and  this  not  only  on  account  of  their  great  size,  but  also 
because  of  the  licauty  of  their  decoration.  vSeen  from  Afrosiab,  these  ruins  tower 
high  above  the  rich  foliage  of  the  oasis  city — e\idence  of  the  wealth  of  treasure 
that  Tamerlane  had  accumulated  in  Turkestan  within  two  centuries  after  Genghis 
Khan  had  sacked  the  country  and  massacred  nuich  of  its  population. 

REVIEW  OF  THE  FIELD. 

What  I  have  been  able  here  to  sa)'  regarding  the  archeolog\-  of  Russian  Tur- 
kestan seems  but  a  meager  statement ;  but  it  was  soon  clear  that  all  that  could  be 
accomplished  in  such  a  reconnaissance  would  be  the  observation  of  the  character 
and  abtnidance  of  the  evidences  of  former  occupation,  and  to  obtain  some  idea  of 
their  distribution  and  size. 

Our  reconnaissance  covered  a  territor)'  nearly  1,400  miles  long.  It  was  neces- 
sarih'  only  of  a  preliminary  character,  and  intended  to  supph'  a  general  idea  of  the 
problems  to  be  sol\-ed  and  of  the  best  points  at  which  to  begin. 


REVIEW    AXl)    KECOMMEXDATIONS. 


13 


While  we  have  been  surprised  at  the  abundance  of  the  data  in  natural  and 
ailificial  records  offered  by  the  region  toward  these  solutions,  we  are  impressed  with 
a  realization  of  the  intimate  relation  in  which  this  region  stands  to  the  Quatemar)' 
and  prehistoric  history'  of  the  whole  continent.  Physicalh-  it  forms  part  of  the 
great  interior  region  extending  from  the  Mediterranean  to  Manchuria,  whose  history- 
has  been  one  of  progressive  desiccation,  but  in  Russian  Turkestan  the  effects  of  this 
have  been  mitigated  by  the  snows  of  the  lofty  ranges  and  the  lower  altitude  of  the 
plains. 

Archeologically  this  region  has,  through  a  long  period,  been  a  center  of  pro- 
duction and  commerce,  connecting  the  eastern,  western,  and  southern  nations,  and 
its  accumulating  wealth  has  made  it  repeatedly  the  prey  of  invading  aniiies.  It 
has  been   from  remote  time  the  field  of  contact  and  contest  between  the  Turanian 


Fig.  8. — A  Mosque  o(  Mediaeval  Samarkand. 


and  Aryan  stocks ;  but  its  problems,  both  physical  and  archeological,  are  parts  of  the 
greater  problem  underlying  the  study  of  the  development  of  man  and  his  civilization 
on  the  great  continent  and  of  the  environment  conditioning  that  development. 

The  many  fragmentar}-  peoples  sur\i\ing  in  the  remote  comers  and  in  the  pro- 
tected mountain  fastnesses  of  Asia,  preserving  different  languages,  arts,  and  customs, 
indicate  a  very  remote  period  of  differentiation,  with  subsequent  long  periods  for 
separate  development.  The)-  point  also  to  the  long  periods  of  unrest  and  battling 
in  which  the  survivors  of  the  vanquished  were  forced  into  their  present  refuges. 
And  this  unrest  was  probabh-  the  remote  protot>-pe  of  that  which  in  the  later  pre- 
historic and  historic  time  sent  out  its  wa\-es  from  the  Aralo-Caspian  basin.  It  was 
probably  from  the  beginning  a  condition  in  which  the  slowh-  progressive  change 
toward  aridity  in  interior  Asia  was  ever  forcing  emigration  outward,  displacing 


14 


EXI'LORATIOXS    I\    TURKESTAN. 


other  ])eoples,  and  tlius  \vorkin<!f  afjaiiist  tlie  establisliinent  of  a  stable  equilihriiini  of 
population.  Asia  is  thus  the  field  for  applying  all  the  comparative  sciences  that 
relate  to  the  histor\-  of  man.  The  materials  lie  in  cave  deposits,  in  rock  picto- 
graphs,  in  tumuli,  dolmens,  and  ruined  towns,  in  languages,  customs,  religions, 
design  patterns,  and  anthropological  measurements. 

Turkestan,  from  its  geographical  position,  must  have  been  the  stage  on  which 
the  drama  of  Asiatic  life  was  epitomized  through  all  these  ages  of  fennent.  Peoples 
and  civilizations  appeared  and  disappeared,  leaving  their  records  buried  in  ashes 
and  earth ;  but  the  fertilit%-  of  the  soil  produced  wealth,  and  the  position  kept  it  ever 
a  commercial  center. 

So  far  as  our  problems  of  archeology-  and  plnsical  geography  are  concerned, 
Turkestan  is  practically  a  virgin  field.  In  geology-  and  cartography  the  Russians 
have  done  a  surprising  amount  of  excellent  work  ;  but  the  modern  methods  of 
physico-geographic  study  have  only  begtm  to  be  applied,  and  the  little  archeological 
work  done  there  has  been  mostly  in  the  nature  of  hunting  for  curios  and  treasure, 
chiefly  by  foreigners,  and  in  .so  destructive  a  manner  that  the  Ru.ssian  government 
has  till  now  wisely  prohibited  e.xca\ations. 

The  importance  of  Russian  Turkestan  as  a  field  of  archeological  research 
])cconies  evident  when  we  consider,  on  the  one  hand,  its  vast  number  of  sites  of 
former  occupation,  and  on  the  other  the  great  di.stances  that  separate  it  from  points 
at  which  such  research  has  been  conducted.  To  the  south  the  whole  region  from 
India  to  Susa,  on  the  border  of  Mesopotamia,  is  practically  untouched.  To  the 
west  we  must  cro.ss  the  Caspian,  to  find,  in  the  Caucasus  and  around  the  Black  Sea, 
.scientifically  conducted  excavations.  On  the  east,  beyond  the  high  pas.ses  of  the 
Tienshan,  some  good  work  has  been  done  b\-  Stein  and  Gruenwedel  in  the  buried 


•-  -^  jS-^Str.*-^ 


--    *>-      •     ■^•.l^a'    ^ 


Fig.  9. — Water  Pool  System   in  the  C 


REVIEW    AND    RECOMMENDATIONS. 


15 


cities  of  Chinese  Turkestan,  and  much  more,  of  a  destructive  character,  by  others. 
To  the  north  we  must  cross  the  great  deserts  and  steppes  to  reach  in  Siberia  the 
nearest  systematic  excavations  of  Radloff  and  others. 

In  Persia,  M.  J.  de  Morgan  has  for  several  }-ears  been  conducting  a  tlioroughh- 
scientific  investigation  at  several  points,  and  especially  at  Susa,  where  he  has  alread^■ 
obtained  results  of  the  greatest  interest.  The  acropolis  of  Susa  is  105  feet  high. 
M.  de  Morgan's  preliminary  tunnels,  run  into  the  hill  at  different  levels,  showed  it 
to  be  composed  of  made  earth  from  the  base  upward.  Stone  implements  and 
potter)-  abounded  up  to  36  feet  from  the  top.  The  potter\-  impro\-cd  from  below 
up,  and  among  the  fragments  he  recognized  a  variety-  belonging  to  a  grouj)  peculiar 
to  Egj-pt,  Syria,  Cyprus,  and  most  of  Asia  Minor,  but  not  known  from  Mesopo- 
tamia. De  Morgan  had  found  this  in  predynastic  tombs  in  Eg>pt,  and  ascribed  it 
to  a  period  before  the  eighteenth  century  B.  C.  At  45  feet  below  the  top  he 
found  tablets  'and  cylinders  with  cuneiform  inscriptions  which  Scheil  considers  as 
belonging  to  a  period  before  the  fortieth  century  B.  C. 

M.  de  Morgan  asks  :  "  If  the  refined  civilizations  of  the  past  6,000  years,  with 
their  great  structures  and  fortifications,  have  left  only  45  feet  of  debris,  how  many 
centuries  nuist  it  ha\e  required  to  accumulate  the  lower  60  feet,  when  man  used 
more  simple  materials  in  the  construction  of  his  abodes?  " 

The  thickness  of  made  earth  in  the  abandoned  sites  of  Turkesbxu  is  sufficient 
to  give  reason  for  expecting  evidences  of  ver>-  long  continued  occupation.  The 
dr)-ness  of  the  climate  makes  possible  the  preser\'ation  of  an\-  traces  of  written  or 
incised  documents  that  may  have  existed.  Excavation  conducted  with  the  idea 
that  e\er>thing  met  with — the  earth  itself,  the  character,  position,  and  a.ssociation 
of  fragments — is  part  of  history,  can  not  fail  to  be  most  fruitful  in  results. 


lations  of  Ancient  Samarkand. 


l6  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

It  is  the  opinion  of  an  important  school  of  archeologists  that  the  earliest 
prodncts  of  metallurgy  in  bronze  and  iron  successi\-eh-  progressed  to  the  western 
world  from  the  far  East — a  progress  that  in  each  case  carried  witli  it  a  re\olution  in 
civilizations.  We  do  not  know  whether  this  region  saw  the  birth  of  the  metallnrgj' 
of  those  elemental  substances  which — beginning  with  copper  and  tin  and  progressing 
through  bronze  to  iron  and  steel  and  the  use  of  coal — marks  the  birth  of  civili- 
zation and  its  great  revolutions.  If  it  was  not  the  birthplace  of  this  art,  and  if  it 
was  a  distributing  center,  it  is  a  long  step  nearer  to  an\-  far  eastern  source,  whether 
this  was  China,  Kast  Turkestan,  India,  or  Persia. 

RESULTS  IN   PHYSICAL  GEOGRAPHY. 

Both  our  own  obsen-atious  and  the  excellent  and  extensive  work  of  the 
Russian  geologists  show  that  the  progressive  desiccation  of  the  region  has 
greatly  diminished  both  the  area  of  cultivable  land  and  the  volume  of  water,  and 
greatly  reduced  the  population.  Is  this  change  a  phase  of  cyclical  phenomena — of 
c)-cles  of  long  periodicit>-  ?  In  what  relation  have  the  geologicall}-  recent  secular 
phenomena  in  central  Asia  stood  to  man  and  civilization  in  that  region  and  to  the 
outside  world? 

One  of  the  chief  objects  of  the  reconnaissance  of  the  past  season  was  to  deter- 
mine whether  a  systematic  investigation  would  be  likely  to  throw  light  on  these 
questions.  Perhaps  the  most  important  result  is  our  finding  that  successive  physi- 
cal events  have  left  such  abundant  records,  written  in  large  strokes,  all  o\-er  the 
mountains  and  the  plains. 

The  work  of  this  year  has  not  onh*  made  a  most  promising  beginning  in  this 
interpretation,  but  has  shown  that  it  is  probably  possible  to  correlate  the  different 
events  among  themselves  and  with  the  period  of  human  occupation,  and  possibly 
with  similar  ph)sical  e\-ents  in  Europe. 

As  an  interior  region,  central  Asia  is  arid  and  dependent  for  its  water  almost 
wholh-  on  its  bordering  mountains.  It  is  also  self-contained,  i.  e.^  without  drainage 
to  the  ocean.  Changes  of  climate,  resulting  in  great  fluctuations  of  water  supply, 
would  therefore  probably  be  recorded  b)-  old  shorelines  at  different  levels.  They 
might  also  be  more  or  less  legibly  recorded  in  the  evidences  of  repeated  glaciation 
and  erosion  in  the  high  mountains. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  report  of  Professor  Davis  that  he  has  found  traces  of 
an  old  shoreline  about  600  feet  above  the  west  shore  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  and  a  \er>- 
distinctly  marked  one  on  the  east  side,  at  an  elevation  of  200  feet  or  more.  Further 
search  for  shorelines  was  left  to  form  the  object  of  a  more  extended  special  stud>- 
than  could  be  made  in  our  general  reconnaissance. 

In  the  eastern  mountains,  near  Issik  Kul  and  Son  Kul,  Professor  Davis  found 
clear  evidence  of  two  and  probabh-  three  glacial  epochs.  Mr.  Ellsworth  Hunting- 
ton, working  in  the  higher  Tian  Shan,  found  proof  of  three  epochs,  and  later  of  five 
phases,  in  the  successive  moraines  of  a  large  number  of  glaciers  studied  by  him  in 


REVIEW    AND    RECOMMENDATIONS.  I7 

the  Alai  Mountains.  Between  some,  at  least,  of  these  there  were  long  interglacial 
intervals.  Mr.  Huntinofton  reports  records  of  climate  oscillation  shown  not  only 
in  these  moraines,  but  also  in  the  vallc)-  terraces,  and  considers  them  to  be  members 
of  a  group  of  sympathetic  glacial  phenomena. 

Professor  Davis  noted  along  the  northern  edge  of  the  Kopet  Dagh,  the  moun- 
tains bordering  the  plains  east  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  and  in  the  eastern  mountains 
evidence  of  a  longitudinal  dislocation,  accompanied  by  great  block  uplifts,  fonned 
apparently  after  the  w^earing  down  of  the  mountain  masses  to  a  peneplain  and 
preceding  an  active  dissection  of  the  elevated  mass.  This  dislocation  had  been 
already  observed  by  Muschketof,  who  states  that  it  extends  far  along  the  edge  of  the 

Kopet  Dagh. 

Mr.  R.  W.  Pumpelly  studied  independently  the  region  from  the  Syr  Darja 
southward  across  the  two  mighty  snow  and  ice  ranges,  the  Alai  and  Trans-Alai. 
He  found  clear  evidence  of  two  long-separated  glacial  epochs  recorded  in  extensive 
moraines,  and,  on  the  Pamir,  in  apparently  corresponding  high  shorelines  around 
Lake  Kara  Kul.  These  glacial  epochs  he  has  coixelated  with  orogenic  movements 
of  the  Trans-Alai,  there  being  a  definite  relation  between  the  glacial  trough  bottoms 
of  the  two  epochs  and  the  present  stream  floors.  In  the  Alai  range,  he  found  that 
there  had  been  a  block  uplift  followed  by  a  block  tilt,  both  with  a  dislocation 
through  the  border  of  the  lowland  plains  to  the  north,  and  leaving  their  records  in 
alluvium-capped  hills  and  terraces  along  the  valle}-  sides  and  in  the  dragging  up  or 
tilting  of  the  fluvial  sediments  or  river  fans  on  the  lowland  borders.  These 
movements  he  has  correlated  with  the  glacial  geology,  making  the  block  tilt  an 
interglacial  event. 

These  block  uplifts,  b>-  lowering  the  base  level,  caused  a  remodeling  of  the 
mountains,  and  have  left  their  record  on  the  lowland  plains,  which  they  have  helped 
to  create,  by  the  vast  amount  of  material  poured  out  on  them  by  the  eroding 
streams. 

The  block-uplifting  and  the  tilting  being  correlated  with  the  growth  of  the 
alhuial  Fergana  lowlands,  and  the  relation  of  the  glacial  expansions  to  the  \-alley- 
cuttings  in  the  Trans-Alai  range  being  clearly  recorded,  it  becomes  a  matter  of 
great  interest  to  correlate  these  Quaternar}-  events  of  the  Trans-Alai  \-allo\s  with 
those  of  the  Alai  range  and  the  lowlands,  and  the  growth  of  the  plains  witli  the 
progress  of  human  occupation. 

It  is  not  impossible  that,  by  extending  the  study  of  glacial  records  from  the 
Central-Asian  ranges  through  the  Elburg  and  Caucasus,  it  may  be  practicable  to 
correlate  Asiatic  and  Alpine  glacial  events  ;  and  since  the  great  basin  was  fed  both 
by  glaciers  of  the  southern  ranges  and  by  the  great  ice  cap  of  Russia,  this  correla- 
tion of  both  might  be  effected ;  for,  in  view  of  the  great  orogenic  movements  to  which 
the  Caucasus,  the  Persian  Mountains,  and  the  Tian  Shan  have  been  subjected,  it 
can  not  be  positi\elv  asserted  that  the  Central-Asian  glacial  expansions  were  all 
contemporaneous  with  phases  of  the  nuindane  glacial  epoch. 


1 8  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

RECOMMENDATIONS. 

Since  Turkestan  is  under  the  control  of  the  Minister  of  War  and  nuich  of  its 
frontier  is  closed  to  travelers,  it  is  necessan.-  to  ha\-e  the  permission  and  good  will 
of  the  goveninient  in  order  to  pursue  investigations.  To  inaugurate  anj-  extensive 
plan  of  archeological  excavations  will  require  tactful  negotiation  at  St.  Petersburg. 
I  have  good  reasons  for  believing  that  the  desired  concessions  can  be  had  on  a  basis 
of  division  of  objects  found,  and  with  a  sufficient  time  allowance  for  the  study  of 
all  the  material.  Such  a  plan  should  include  both  town  sites  and  large  and  small 
tumuli.  Of  town  sites  I  would  recommend  the  following,  as  points  to  begin  on, 
in  the  order  stated.: 

Town  sites. — Afrosiab  (Samarkand),  Ghiaur  Kala  (Old  Mer\'),  Paikent  (west  of 
Bokhara),  Aksi  (on  the  Syr  Dar^-a) ;  the  high  ruins  seen  several  miles  to  the  north 
of  Ghiaur  Kala ;  a  ver}-  high  one  seen  from  the  railroad  a  few  miles  west  of  the 
Amu  Dar}-a. 

Tumuli. — Both  tlie  tumulus  mentioned  at  Anau,  near  Askhabad,  and  another  a 
short  distance  from  it ;  others  west  of  Askhabad,  north  of  Old  ]Mer\-,  and  near  Jizak  ; 
also  manj-  mounds  of  small  size  which  seem  to  have  a  different  significance. 

As  bearing  on  the  age  of  the  tumuli,  it  is  important  that  the  relation  of  the 
base  of  the  mound  to  the  surrounding  earth  be  studied  to  detennine  by  how  nuich, 
if  any,  the  level  of  the  plain  has  been  built  up  since  the  first  occupation  of  the  site, 
and  to  see  also  by  how  nnich  the  mound  has  shrunken  in  size  at  its  base,  as  it 
certainly  has  in  horizontal  section  at  the  top.  In  connection  with  the  question  of 
age  of  the  tumuli  and  in  relation  to  the  last  expansion  of  the  Aralo-Caspian  seas,  it 
would  be  very  desirable  to  determine  the  lower  altitude  limit  of  distribution.  I 
did  not  .see  any  below  250  feet  above  the  Caspian. 

Similar  obsei-\-ations  are  needed  on  the  west  coast  of  the  Caspian,  where  De 
]M organ  found  no  antiquities  on  the  lowlands  in  the  Lenkoran  countr}-,  but  at  a 
higher  level  abundant  tombs  of  the  bronze  period  and  of  the  transition  to  iron. 

As  further  connected  with  the  relation  of  human  occupation  to  the  fonnerly 
expanded  water  area,  there  is  needed  a  detennination  of  the  altitudes  of  the 
Manytsch  divide  between  the  Caspian  and  the  Black  Sea,  and  of  that  between  the 
Aral  and  the  Arctic  Ocean.     Both  of  these  are  now  not  far  from  railroad  bases. 

As  regards  further  wtjrk  in  physical  geograjDhy,  Profes.sor  Davis  writes  : 

"The  order  in  which  I  should  like  to  see  the  *  *  *  studies  taken  up  on 
the  plains,  in  order  to  define  most  rapidly  the  conditions  of  early  human  history-,  is 
as  follows : 

"The  shorelines  of  the  Caspian  and  Aral  seas;  first  on  the  southwest,  south, 
and  southeast,  then  on  the  northeast  and  the  associated  plains. 

"The  double  belt  of  piedmont  plains  and  bordering  ranges  with  special  work 
in  certain  glaciated  valle)-s. 

"  The  deposits  of  loess  from  Samarkand  to  Tashkent. 

"The  Issik  Kul  basin,  by  a  special,  independent  part}-. 

"Secondarily,  Block  mountains  and  the  Narin  fonnation." 


REVIEW    AND    RECOMMENDATIONS.  19 

SUMMARY. 

We  have  shown  that  the  recent  physical  history  of  the  region  is  legibly  recorded 
in  glacial  sculpture  and  moraines,  in  orogenic  movements,  in  valley  cutting  and 
terracings,  in  lake  expansions,  and  in  the  building  up  of  the  plains,  and  we  have 
made  some  progress  in  correlating  these  events. 

We  have  also  found  full  confinnation  of  the  statements  as  to  a  progressive  desic- 
cation of  the  region  of  long  standing,  which  has  from  a  remote  period  continually 
converted  cultivable  lands  into  deserts  and  buried  cities  in  sands. 

We  have  found,  widely  distributed,  great  and  small  abandoned  sites  of  human 
occupation,  with  evidences  of  great  antiquity. 

We  have  reason  to  think  that  a  correlation  of  these  physical  and  human  events 
may  be  obtained  through  continuance  of  the  investigation,  and  that  archeological 
excavations  will  throw  light  on  the  origin  of  Western  and  Eastern  civilizations. 


A  JOURNEY  ACROSS  TURKESTAN. 


BY   WILLIAM    M.    DAVIS, 
Sturgis-Hooper  Professor  of  Geology,  Harvard  University. 


A  Journey  Across  Turkestan. 


By  William  M.  Davis, 

Sturgis-Hoopcr  Professor  of  Geology,  Harvard  University. 


ITINERARY. 


Ou  April  17,  1903,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Ellsworth  Huntington,  who  had  been 
appointed  research  assistant  b}-  the  Carnegie  Institution  of  Washington,  I  left 
Boston;  sailed  from  New  York,  April  18;  landed  at  Cherbourg,  April  24;  spent 
April  25  in  Paris,  April  28  in  Vienna,  and  May  i  to  3  in  Constantinople;  crossed 
the  Black  Sea  to  Batoum,  May  4  to  8 ;  and  went  thence  by  rail  to  Tiflis,  May  10, 
and  to  Baku  ou  the  Caspian,  where  we  arrived  Ma}-  12.  We  crossed  the  Caspian  on 
the  night  of  May  22,  and  started  from  Krasnovodsk  on  the  Central  Asiatic  Railway 
on  the  afternoon  of  May  24.  After  making  short  stops  at  Jebel,  May  25,  Kizil  Arvat, 
May  26,  and  Bakharden,  May  27,  to  examine  the  piedmont  border  of  the  great  plains 
of  Turkestan,  we  delayed  at  Askhabad,  May  27  to  June  9,  long  enough  to  make  a 
five-day  excursion.  Ma)-  30  to  June  4,  into  the  Kopet  Dagh,  the  mountain  range  along 
the  Russo- Persian  frontier.  Leaving  Askhabad  by  train  the  evening  of  June  9,  we 
stopped  at  Mer\',  June  11  to  14,  and  Samarkand,  June  16,  and  on  June  17  reached 
Tashkent,  where  we  remained  three  days.  On  June  20,  accompanied  by  IMr. 
Huntington  and  Mr.  Brovtzine,  intei-preter,  I  went  b)-  rail  to  Andizhan,  where  we 
stopped  from  June  21  to  June  27,  to  outfit  for  an  excursion  across  the  western  ranges 
of  the  Tian  Shan  Mountains  to  Lake  Issik  Knl.  We  set  out  from  Andizhan,  June 
27 ;  spent  two  days,  July  8  and  9,  at  Lake  Son  Kul ;  reached  Issik  Kul  on  July  14 ; 
made  a  short  trip  into  the  mountains  on  its  southwestern  side,  and  then  moved  along 
the  northern  shore  to  the  Russian  settlement  of  Sazauovka.  Here,  on  July  22,  IVIr. 
Huntington  turned  southward  to  begin  his  excursion  to  Kashgar,  with  the  object 
of  continuing  over  a  large  district  of  the  high  ranges  the  study  of  old  moraines  and 
terraces  that  we  had  begun  together  on  the  road  to  Issik  Kul ;  while  I  turned 
northward  with  Mr.  Brovtzine  and  began  my  homeward  joume}-.  \'yem\i  was 
reached  Juh-  26 ;  we  went  in  tarautass  to  Semipalatinsk,  August  2 ;  by  boat  down 
the  Irtysli  to  Omsk,  August  7;  by  train  to  St.  Petersburg,  August  15,  where  Mr. 
Brovtzine  resided ;  I  continued  by  train  to  Ostend  and  London,  August  1 7  ;  and  by 
steamer  from  Liverpool  to  Boston,  August  20  to  28. 

NATURE  OF  OBSERVATIONS. 

In  the  geologic  and  physiographic  reconnaissance  of  the  region  tra\-ersed,  the 
chief  subdivisions  of  Turkestan  were  visited  in  the  following  order :  The  Caspian 
Sea  on  the  west,  the  central   plains,  and    the  mountains    on  the  south  and  east. 

23 


24  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

While  it  may  be  desirable  later  to  make  as  precise  a  detennination  as  possible  of 
the  geologfical  date  and  of  the  physiographic  surroundino^s  of  human  monuments  or 
artifacts,  it  did  not  seem  advisable  to  combine  detailed  local  obsen-ations  with  a 
general  reconnaissance  during  our  first  season  in  the  field.  My  work  was  therefore 
directed  to  gaining  a  broad  view  of  the  region  and  its  development,  from  which  it 
should  be  possible  to  plan  and  direct  a  series  of  more  thorough  studies  regarding 
the  subdivisions  of  later  geological  time,  in  case  such  studies  are  to  be  undertaken 
in  the  coming  years.  It  is  a  matter  of  regret  that,  owing  to  the  deficient  represen- 
tation of  Russian  material  in  our  libraries,  it  has  not  been  possible  to  make  as  full 
a  study  of  the  work  of  earlier  observers  as  was  desired  in  the  preparation  of  this 
report. 

THE  CASPIAN  REGION. 

The  region  traversed  naturally  divides  itself  into  three  parts:  The  sea  on 
the  west,  the  mountains  on  the  south  and  east,  and  the  plains  between  the  two. 
The  waters  of  the  Caspian  are  gathered  in  an  area  of  relative  depression ;  the 
mountains  are  the  scene  of  active  erosion  because  of  their  relative  elevation ;  the 
ri\-ers  stri\-e  to  earn,-  the  waste  of  the  mountains  down  the  \-er\-  gentle  slope  of  the 
plains  and  deposit  it  in  the  sea.  The  climatic  changes,  well  proved  to  have  taken 
place  over  other  parts  of  the  world  in  later  geological  times,  may  be  believed  to  have 
had  their  effect  in  this  region  also.  The  Caspian  is  known  to  have  stood  at  a  greater 
height  and  to  have  covered  a  much  larger  area  in  Quaternary-  time,  especially  to  the 
east  and  north,  as  is  attested  by  its  abandoned  strands  and  shell  deposits;  the 
existing  glaciers  of  the  eastern  mountains  have  been  longer  than  they  are  now,  as 
proved  b>-  their  abandoned  Ouaternar}-  moraines,  reported  by  various  explorers ;  the 
rivers  between  the  mountains  and  the  sea  must  ha\-e,  in  some  way  appropriate  to 
themselves,  responded  to  these  var\'ing  conditions  at  their  two  extremities,  and 
hence  even  in  the  strata  of  the  plains  some  record  of  Quaternary'  climatic  variations 
may  be  discovered.  • 

There  can  be  no  question,  however,  that  the  record  of  Quaternary  climatic 
variations  on  the  plains  would  be  of  much  more  difficult  recognition  than  in  tlie 
mountain  valleys  on  the  east,  or  around  the  great  sea  basin  on  the  west.  It  was 
for  this  reason  that  my  reconnaissance  was  directed  chief!)-  to  the  Caspian  shorelines 
and  to  the  extinct  glaciers  of  the  Tian  Shan,  and  that  the  study  of  the  plains  was 
left  to  a  later  year. 

THE  TERTIARY    AND   QUATERNARY   CASPIAN. 

The  existing  Caspian  Sea  is  the  successor  of  the  expanded  water  body  of  late 
Tertiary  time  which  made  the  Black,  the  Caspian,  and  the  Aral  basins  confluent 
and  which  laid  down  a  series  of  stratified  deposits,  known  as  the  (Tertiary)  Aralo- 
Caspian  fonnation,  apparently  the  equivalent  of  the  Congerian  or  Pontic  stage 
of  Europe.  These  deposits  are  now  more  or  less  deformed  and  eroded ;  for  example, 
near  Baku  and  next  eastward  in  the  Apsheron  peninsula,  where  the  Caucasus  range 


THE   QUATERNARY    CASPIAN.  25 

descends  into  the  Caspian.  Here  a  t>'pical  section  shows  anticlinal  and  monoclinal 
Aralo-Caspian  ridges,  with  strata  dipping  20°  or  30°,  and  crests  rising  from  600  to 
800  feet  o\er  the  present  Caspian  level.  The  existing  Caspian  is  by  a  still  greater 
measure  of  time  separated  from  that  ancestral  water  body  in  which  the  Akchlag^l 
strata  of  the  Ust-urt  plateau  as  described  by  Andrussof  (1902)  were  laid  down,  these 
being  pre-Pontic  and  post-Sannatian.  The  Tertiary  seas  represented  by  the 
Sannatian  and  Mediterranean  stages  (Miocene)  were  yet  more  ancient.  Their 
deposits  are  so  widely  distributed  on  existing  lands  and  so  much  deformed  and 
eroded  that  their  parent  waters  had  little  resemblance  to  the  seas  of  to-da\-. 

The  Quaternary  Caspian,  with  whose  shorelines  and  deposits  we  are  concerned, 
is  more  modem  than  the  latest  of  the  seas  above  named.  It  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  the  immediate  successor  of  the  expanded  Tertiar\'  seas,  for  although  Neumayr 
thought  that  there  had  been  a  progressive  diminution  of  water  area  from  Sannatian 
times,  not  interrupted  by  expansion  even  during  the  glacial  period  (1875,  32), 
Andrussof  sa)s  that  at  the  end  of  the  Tertiary-  the  Caspian  was  probably  lower 
than  at  present  (1888,  113).  Our  observations  confinn  the  latter  view.  There 
must  have  been  indeed  a  considerable  period  of  late  Tertiar\-  or  early  Quateman' 
time  when  the  Caspian  had  a  lower  level  than  now,  for  not  only  the  high-le\-el 
Quateman,-  shorelines,  but  even  the  present  Caspian  shorelines,  contour  around  the 
eroded  ridges  of  the  deformed  (Tertiar\)  Aralo-Caspian  strata  at  Baku.  The  low- 
water  epoch  between  the  Tertiar}-  and  Quatemar}-  periods  of  Caspian  expansion 
nmst  have  endured  for  a  much  longer  measure  of  time  than  that  of  the  Quatemar}- 
high-water  stage  and  the  present  mid-water  stage,  taken  together ;  for  the  erosion 
that  the  defonned  (Tertian)  Aralo-Caspian  strata  suffered  before  the  Quatemar\- 
Caspian  rose  upon  them  at  Baku  is  hundreds  of  times  greater  than  the  sum  of  the 
erosions  recorded  in  the  Quatemar)-  strands,  and  thousands  of  times  greater  than 
the  erosion  that  the  strands  have  suffered  since  the  waters  retired  from  them.  It  is 
also  important  to  note  that  the  historic  oscillations  of  the  Caspian  are  all  short-lived 
events,  and  that  their  order  and  rate  of  change  can  not  be  safely  used  to  determine 
the  time  since  the  high-level  Quatemar}-  shorelines  were  occupied. 

The  Quatemar}-  Caspian  appears  to  have  been  confluent  with  the  Aral  on  the 
east,  as  will  be  more  full}-  stated  farther  on ;  hence  the  tenn  Aralo-Caspian  has  been 
applied  to  this  expansion  of  the  sea  as  well  as  to  that  of  late  Tertiar}-  time ;  and  it 
is  not  always  easy  to  understand  which  sea  is  meant  when  this  ambiguous  name  is 
emploved.  The  Quatemar}-  Caspian  was  also  confluent  with  the  Black  Sea,  for  its 
strands  are  hundreds  of  feet  above  the  existing  water  level,  while  the  pass  between 
the  two  seas  in  the  Man}-ch  depression  north  of  the  Caucasus  range  is  only  26 
feet  over  the  Black  Sea,  and  112  feet  over  the  Caspian.  It  is  indeed  eminently  pos- 
sible that  the  confluence  of  the  Caspian  and  Black  seas  may  have  taken  place  at 
the  time  when  the  Bosponis  was  a  nonnal  river ;  hence  our  passing  sight  of  this 
beautiful  water  passage  was  of  peculiar  interest  in  connection  with  our  later 
observations  farther  east. 


26 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


THK    BOSPORUS. 

The  Bosponis  has  been  \vell  described  by  Philippson  (1897)  as  a  young  ri\er 
valley  incised  in  an  uplifted  peneplain  f'einetypische  Denudationsflache");  a  ver\- 
modem  depression  has  changed  the  normal  river  valley  to  a  strait,  about  160  feet 
deep,  leaving  the  uplands  of  the  peneplain  still  from  700  to  1,000  feet  above  sea 
level.  All  that  I  saw  from  the  steamer's  deck,  on  two  passages  through  the  Bos- 
])orus,  and  from  a  walk  on  the  uplands  back  of  Robert  College,  about  5  miles 
north  of  the  Golden  Horn,  fully  confirmed  this  interpretation.  The  defonned  rocks 
in  the  walls  of  the  gorge,  the 
wide  view  over  the  undulating 
uplands  with  their  subdued  resi- 
dual hills  or  monadnocks  (fig. 
10),  the  sharp  dissection  of  the 
upland  by  the  winding  main 
valley  and  its  branches,  and  the 
general  appearance  of  submerg- 
ence along  the  present  shorelines,  admit  of  no  other  explanation.  The  space  available 
for  occupation  along  shore  is  commonly  so  narrow  that  houses  are  often  built 
directl)-  on  the  water's  edge.  The  water  is  so  deep  close  to  the  shore  that  large 
\-essels  may  make  near  approach  to  the  land.  As  a  result,  collisions  not  infre- 
quently occur  between  bowsprits  and  house  walls ;  we  saw  a  house  from  which  one 
corner  had  been  torn  out  in  such  an  encounter.  The  Golden  Horn  is  simpl)-  the 
drowned  lower  part  of  a  side  valley  that  comes  into  the  Bosporus  at  Constantinople 
from  the  northwest  and  north.  Philippson  dates  the  erosion  of  the  gorge  as  not 
older  than  the  Upper  Pliocene  ;  the  depression  of  the  region,  changing  the  Bosporus 
from  a  river  to  a  strait,  is  placed  in  the  recent  past,  during  the  existence  of  man. 

THE    SOUTH    COAST    OF    THE    BLACK   SEA. 


Fig.    10. ^Sketch  o(  ihe  Uplands   across  the  Bosporus,  looking  eastward 
from  near  Robert  College,  north  of  Constantinople. 


The  reasons  for  suggesting  that  the  Caspian  and  the  Black  seas  ma}-  have  been 
confluent  before  the  Bosporus  was  submerged  are  based  on  certain  indications  that 
the  land  at  the  southeastern  end  of  the  Black  Sea  was  lower  than  now  at  the  time 
when    the   land   at    the 
southwestern    end    was 
higher.      These  indica- 
tions are  as  follows :  The 
coast  at  and  to  the  east 
of  the  Bosporus  (fig.  11), 
as  seen  from  the  passing 
steamer,  showed  sharply 
cut  modem  cliflTs,  but  no 

benches  or  terraces  above  the  present  shoreline.  The  map  of  the  region,  in  Stieler's 
Hand-Atlas,  shows  no  delta  at  the  south  of  the  Sakaria  River,  about  90  miles  east  of 
the  Bosporus.     At  Samsun,  near  the  middle  of  the  south  coast,  where  our  steamer 


Fig.    1 1 . — Bird's-eye  Diagram  ot  the  Bosporus  at  its  exit  from  the  Black  Sea. 


THE   SOUTH    COAST   OF   THE    BLACK    SEA. 


27 


-Sketch  of  Headland  and  Foreland,  west  of  Samsun,  south 
coast  of  Black  Sea,  looking  west. 


stopped  for  a  day,  the  headlands  to  the  west  and  east  showed  no  elevated  sea-cut 
benches,  but  they  were  both  well  cliffed  with  respect  to  the  present  shoreline ;  a  low 
foreland,  from  300  to  600  feet  wide,  stretched  in  front  of  the  western  cliff,  as  in  fig.  12. 
Whether  the  foreland  was  a  slighth'  ele\-ated  wave-cut  bench,  or  simply  a  broadened 
wave-built  beach,  I  could  not  determine,  as  it  was  seen  only  from  the  steamer ;  but 
in  either  case   its  attitude  is  inconsistent   with  any  strong  recent  movement  of 

depression  or  elevation.  Further 
indication  of  modem  coastal  sta- 
bility in  this  district  is  seen  in 
the  large  deltas  of  the  Kyzil  Innak 
and  Yeshil  Innak  (the  Halys  and 
Iris  rivers  of  ancient  times),  20 
miles  west  and  east  of  Samsun. 
Stieler's  Hand- Atlas  makes  the  radius  of  these  deltas  12  or  15  miles,  although  the 
Yeshil,  the  smaller  of  the  two  rivers,  has  a  drainage  basin  of  less  area  than  the  Sakaria, 
where  no  delta  is  shown.  A  heavj-  rain  fell  while  we  lay  in  the  roadstead  of  Samsun, 
and  a  stream  east  of  the  city  spread  its  yellow  flood  gradually  farther  and  farther  from 
the  shore.  When  the  discolored  water  reached  the  steamer,  half  a  mile  from  land, 
it  still  formed  so  thin  a  film  that  the  oars  of  passing  boats  disclosed  the  blue  water 
beneath.  We  steamed  eastward  past  the  delta  of  the  Yeshil  about  sunset.  It  is  an 
extensive  plain,  hardly  above  sea  level,  in  strong  contrast  to  the  bold  coast  that  we 
had  seen  earlier. 

When  we  reached  Trebizonde,  near  the  southeastern  corner  of  the  sea,  the 
profile  of  the  sloping  spur  next  ea.st  of  the  harbor  exhibited  three  well-defined 
benches,   outlined   in  fig.    13,  which  we  estimated  to  stand  20,  100,  and  250  feet 

above  sea  level;  and  a  small  stream  that 
passed  through  the  cit)-  flowed  in  a  narrow, 
steep-sided  gorge.  Thus  there  seems  to  be 
indication  of  a  modem  depression  of  160 
feet  at  the  Bosporus,  of  no  significant  modem 
movement  at  Samsim,  and  of  a  modern 
elevation  of  from  100  to  250  feet  at  Trebi- 
zonde. But  somewhat  farther  northeast,  at  Batum,  there  was  again  indication  of 
stability  rather  than  of  elevation.  No  benches  were  seen  there  on  the  hillsides,  but 
the  Choruk-Su  (river),  of  drainage  area  similar  to  that  of  the  Yeshil,  has  a  well- 
fonned  gravel  delta  that  stretches  several  miles  forward  from  the  end  of  its  steep- 
sided  valley  through  the  mainland  hills.  The  absence  of  elevated  shorelines  here 
makes  it  hazardous  to  extrapolate,  towards  the  Manych  depression  and  the  Caspian, 
the  indications  of  recent  tilting  that  we  found  on  the  south  coast. 

A  few  words  may  be  said  on  the  possible  eastward  extension  of  the  uplifted 
peneplain  in  which  the  Bosporus  trench  is  cut.  The  south  coast  of  the  Black  Sea 
is  submountainous.  The  valleys  that  we  saw  were  rather  sharply  incLsed  in 
uplands  that  sloped  with  moderate  irregularity  from  higher  hills  or  mountains  in 
the  background  toward  the  cliffs  of  the  shoreline.     It  seemed  plausible  to  associate 


Fig.  1 3. — Profile  of  Elevated  Shorelines  east  of  Trebi 
zonde,  south  coast  of  Black  Sea,  looking  east. 


28  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

these  sloping  uplands  with  the  more  nearly  horizontal  uplands  of  the  Bosporus, 
and  to  regard  them  both  as  parts  of  a  peneplain,  with  many  unconsumed  residuals 
or  monadnocks,  in  a  late  Tertiary  cycle  of  erosion.  A  ver^-  moderate  warping 
would  suffice  to  have  depressed  part  of  the  peneplain  in  what  is  now  the  basin  of 
the  Black  Sea,  and  to  have  raised  an  adjoining  part  in  what  is  now  the  sloping 
northern  border  of  Asia  Minor.  The  sloping  uplands  woxdd  then  be  dissected  by 
valleys,  whose  depth  would  rapidl}'  increase  inland,  and  whose  sides  would  have 
a  younger  expression  than  that  of  the  uplands  in  which  they  eroded,  as  was  so  dis- 
tinctly the  case  along  those  western,  middle,  and  eastern  parts  of  the  coast  that 
we  saw. 

A  daj-  ashore  at  Trebizonde  was  gi\en  chiefly  to  the  gravels  that  lie  on  the 
uplands  back  of  the  cit}'.  Level  beds  of  ashy  gray  sands  and  gravels,  covered  with 
angular  waste  which  has  crept  down  from  the  next  higher  ledges,  were  found  in 
two  localities  on  the  steep  hillside  about  300  feet  above  the  sea  level  (A,  fig.  14); 


Fig.  14. — Diagram  to  illustrate  the  occurrence  of  gravels  near  Trebizonde. 

more  extensive  beds  of  yellowish  gravel  (B)  occurred  at  a  height  of  500  or  550  feet 
on  the  shoulders  of  the  sloping  upland  where  it  was  cut  by  the  narrow  valleys. 
Scattered  pebbles  (C)  occurred  at  still  higher  levels,  up  to  about  800  feet.  These 
gravels  have  been  described  by  Wright,  who  regards  them  as  later  than  "the  entire 
rock  erosion  of  the  region  "  (p.  249). 

It  was  not  possible,  in  the  short  time  at  our  disposal,  to  reach  an  independent 
conclusion  as  to  whether  the  gravels  were  older  or  younger  than  the  vallejs  of  the 
district  No  fossils  were  found  in  them,  and  hence  it  can  not  be  said  whether  they 
are  of  marine  or  fluviatile  origin.  It  should  be  stated  that  the  uplifted  shorelines, 
next  east  of  Trebizonde,  seemed  to  turn  somewhat  inland  along  a  \-alley  side; 
hence  the  relation  of  higher  sea  level  and  valley  erosion  is  not  a  simple  problem. 

THE   QUATERNARY   CASPIAN   SHORELINES   NE.\R   BAKU. 

It  has  already  been  pointed  out  that  the  present  shoreline,  as  well  as  the  ele- 
vated shorelines,  of  the  Caspian  skirt  an  eroded  surface  of  late  Tertiar}-  Aralo- 
Caspian  strata  in  the  Baku  district.  Hence  the  waters  of  the  sea  must  ha^•e  been, 
for  a  considerable  part  of  early  Quatemar}-  time,  lower  than  they  are  now.  This 
lower  water  stand,  inferred  from  ph)-siographic  evidence,  should  not  be  confused 
with  the  lower  water  stand  during  the  historical  ]\Iiddle  Ages,  about  the  tenth  cen- 
tury, as  demonstrated  by  the  occurrence  of  the  walls  of  several  buildings  (H,  fig.  15), 
nearly  submerged  a  few  hundred  feet  offshore  in  Baku  Harbor.     Nor  should  the 


CASPIAN    SHORELINES    NEAR    BAKU. 


29 


rate  of  lowering  of  the  Aral  in  the  past  century-  be  taken,  as  it  has  been  by 
Obnichef  (1890,  253),  as  a  basis  for  calculating  the  antiquity  of  the  Aralo-Caspian 
Sea ;  the  fluctuations  of  the  Caspian  and  the  Aral  in  modern  times,  or  of  Great  Salt 
Lake,  are  episodes  of  the  existing  climate,  and  should  not  be  assumed  to  have  been 
in  continuous  progress  since  the  middle  Quatemar\-.  It  should  be  noted,  however, 
that  a  long-continued  tendency  toward  increased  aridity  appears  to  characterize  the 
Caspian  region  in  the  historic  centuries.  A  detailed  account  of  recorded  changes 
of  level  in  the  Caspian  is  given  in  Briickner's  excellent  summary-  (1890).  The 
story,  current  in  Baku,  concerning  an  old  road  marked  by  wheel  tracks  that 
descend  below  water  level  on  the  island  of  Nargin,  8  miles  from  Baku,  appears  to 
be  without  valid   foundation.     We  visited  the  island  and  walked  all  around  its 


j 

T- 

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1 

1 

BAKU  jf^fi^ 

1 

r    / 

1 

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/      ■* 
/        J 

/         ■* 

:          \ 

u 

1) 

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'"knW     E .  B  A  T  ;             ^0 

:     ;  < 

^^^y^m  . "     y 

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'    i        %        '%    ^V    Turkish 

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P- 

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y^                 C 

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V  \ 

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/                                            ABOUT     3     MILES 

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Fig.  1 5. — Sketch  Map  of  the  District  southwest  of  Baku. 

shores  without  finding  the  semblance  of  an  old  road,  thus  unconsciously  repeating 
the  negati\-e  conclusion  of  Eichwald  and  Chan>kof  (cited  by  Briickner,  64).  It  is 
worth  noting  that  the  chief  water  stipply  for  Baku,  apart  from  certain  springs  that 
are  unpalatable  to  the  European  residents,  is  derived  from  distillation  of  the  brackish 
Caspian  water  with  cheap  petroleum  fuel ;  the  latent  heat  given  out  in  condensation 
of  the  steam  is  economically  used  in  wanning  the  next  intake  of  water  from  the 
sea.     The  water  works  (WW)  and  the  water  tower  (WT)  are  indicated  in  fig.  15. 

The  most  notable  feature  of  the  elevated  Caspian  shorelines  near  Baku  is  their 
comparative  faintness.  They  are  not  marked  by  strongh-  cut  cliffs  or  by  continu- 
ous benches,  but  by  rather  discontinuous  benches,  much  less  pronoiniced  than  the 
shorelines  of  to-day.     In  spite  of  the  large  size  of  the  Caspian,  its  abandoned  shore- 


30 


EXPLORATIONS   IN    TURKESTAN. 


lines  are  much  less  developed  than  are  those  of  our  Quatemar)-  Lakes  Bonneville 
and  Lalioiitan  in  Utah  and  Nevada,  or  of  our  Laurentian  C.lacial  (keat  Lakes  in  New 
York  and  farther  west.  The  Caspian  shorelines  are,  howexer,  easil\-  recognized  at 
many  points  on  the  hillsides  about  Baku,  where  they  are  marked  by  horizontal 
benches  of  cobbles,  gravel,  and  shells,  more  or  less  cemented,  at  various  levels  up  to 
300  or  500  feet  (fig.  16).  Sjogren  says  that  the  last  rise  of  the  Caspian  left 
marls  and  clays  50  or  55  meters  o\'er  the  present  water  level.  On  the  most  exposed 
headland  that  we  visited,  about  6  miles  northeast  of  Baku  and  160  feet  above  the 
sea,  blocks  of  sandstone,  5  or  10  feet  in  size,  were  detached  from  their  ledges  and 
left  standing  in  disorderly  attitudes,  which  seemed  less  the  result  of  ordinar)-  pro- 


Fig.  1 6. — An  old  Caspian  Shoreline,  near  Baku. 


cesses  of  weathering  than  of  former  seashore  forces.  There  are  also  occasional 
mounds  or  delta-like  deposits  of  fine  silt  in  protected  re-entrants  of  fonner  shorelines 
as  at  A,  fig.  15,  at  altitudes  similar  to  those  of  the  cobble  benches ;  but  these  features 
are  so  discontinuous  that  it  was  not  possible  to  correlate  them  safely.  Their  discon- 
tinuity does  not  appear  to  be  due  to  subsequent  erosion,  for  none  of  the  shore 
records  seem  to  have  suffered  significant  change,  except  one  of  the  silt  deposits  that 
lies  in  a  ravine,  and  that  has  been  channeled  by  its  wet-weather  stream.  This  silt 
deposit  (A',  fig.  15)  is  just  west  of  Bibi-Eibat  and  contains  land  shells  in  its  upper 
part,  but  its  fonn  and  jx)sition  are  such  as  to  indicate  the  deposition  of  its  greater 
volume  as  a  delta.     It  lies  on  a  bed  of  well-rounded  cobbles  and  bowlders,  exposed 


CASPIAN    SHORELINES    NEAR    BAKU. 


31 


in  the  ravine,  and  thus  shows  that  the  high-water  stand  when  the  silt  was  deposited 
liad  been  preceded  by  a  time  of  less  high  water.  A  few  miles  east  of  Baku,  a  flat 
hill-top  (B,  fig.  17)  was  sparsely  strewn  with  water-worn  cobbles  at  a  height  of  430 
feet ;  and  here  we  found  a  well-formed  pothole,  about  3  feet  in  diameter,  and  of 
somewhat    less    depth,    with    a  c 


round  stone  hing  in  it.  South- 
west of  Baku,  near  the  southern 
end  of  the  monoclinal  ridge  be- 
yond the  oil-wells  of  Bibi-Eibat, 
a  small  patch  of  cemented  cob- 
bles, pebbles,  and  broken  shells  lay  at  a  height  of  about  460  feet;  but  it  may  be 
that  this  is  simply  a  remnant  of  a  Pliocene  deposit. 

The  most  interesting  records  of  the  modern  high-level  Caspian  near  Baku  were 
found  in  three  cobble  spits  at  about  600  feet  altitude  above  the  present  water  level. 
As  no  accounts  of  the  Baku  district  that  I  hav'e  read  make  mention  of  shore  records 


Fig.  17. 


-Three-mile  section  of  Ridge,  six  miles  northeast  of  Baku, 
looking  north. 


Fig.  18. —The  Oil-Wells  of  Bibi-Elibat,  two  miles  south  of  Baku,  looking  south. 


at  SO  great  an  altitude,  these  spits  will  be  described  in  some  detail.  The  first  one 
was  found  at  S,  fig.  15,  on  the  top  of  the  horseshoe  ridge  of  the  late  Tertiary  Aralo- 
Caspian  (Pontic)  .sandstones  that  incloses  the  anticlinal  valley  of  the  Bibi-Eibat  oil- 
wells.  The  spit  was  somewhat  east  of  the  apex  of  the  ridge  cur\e.  The  anticline 
is  figured  in  section  in  the  little  handbook,  "Guide  VII  des  Excursions  du  VII 


32 


EXPLORATIONS   IN   TURKESTAN. 


Congres  international  geologique,"  and  the  section  is  reproduced  by  Mushketof 
(1899,  I,  304).  Tlie  ridge  may  be  reached  by  going  ni>hill,  southwest  from  Baku, 
past  a  church  and  cemeter*'  on  a  gravel-covered  ])ench  that  o\-erlooks  the  cit)-  at  a 
height  of  about  330  feet.  A  quarn,-  on  this  bench  shows  the  late  Tertian,-  strata, 
with  abundant  shells.  The  view  from  the  ridge  over  the  Bibi-Eibat  valley  with 
its  oil-wells  and  the  Caspian  beyond  (fig.  18)  is  a  repaying  one.  The  spit  is  250 
feet  wide  at  its  proximal  end,  20  or  25  feet  thick,  and  1,300  feet  long;  it  trends 
N.  20°  W.  (magnetic)  for  most  of  its  length,  but  turns  N.  70°  E.  near  its  end.  It 
descends  gradually,  so  that  the  northern  or  free  end  is  50  feet  lower  than  the 
southern  or  attached  end.  Its  eastern  or  seaward  side  slopes  about  5°  ;  its  western 
or  landward  side  slopes  18°.     A  number  of  pits  tliat  have  been  dug  in  its  western 


Fig..  19. — A  Cobble  Spit  on  a  ridge  near  Zuyk.  seven  miles  northeast  of  Baku,  looking  north;  fissured 
Aralo-Caspian  Strata  in  the  foreground. 


side  show  that  it  is  made  in  great  part  of  small  pebbles  that  seem  to  ha\'e  been 
derived  from  the  somewhat  pebbly  sandstone  of  the  horseshoe  ridge;  but  it  also 
contains  rounded  sandstone  and  conglomerate  cobbles  and  bowlders  up  to  3  or  4  feet 
in  diameter.  The  anomalous  feature  here  is  the  absence  of  corresponding  marks  of 
shore  action  on  the  slopes  of  the  higher  ground  to  the  southwest,  where  the  hill-tops 
are  nearly  300  feet  higher  than  the  ridge  on  which  the  spit  is  fonned.  Furthermore, 
on  crossing  the  barren  monoclinal  \-alley  of  the  \'assaniala  (which  is  followed  by 
the  railroad  to  Tiflis,  a  few  miles  west  of  Baku,  fig.  15),  to  the  anticlinal  hills  of 
petroleum-bearing  strata,  whose  summits  reach  about  1,000  feet  altitude,  we 
were  unable  to  find  any  well-defined  shore  marks  corresponding  to  the  level  of  the 
long  spit     The  highest  safe  record  here  was  a  bed  of  cobbles  at  200  feet  altitude. 


CASPIAN    SHORELINES    NEAR    KRASNOVODSK.  33 

We  were  therefore  disposed  to  doubt  the  existence  of  a  600-foot  shoreline  until 
further  search  on  the  hills  east  of  Baku,  in  a  much  more  exposed  situation  than  that 
of  the  anticlinal  hills  to  the  west,  discovered  other  cobble  spits  on  the  west  slope  of 
the  north-south  monoclinal  ridge  of  west-dipping  Aralo-Caspian  (Pontic)  calcareous 
sandstones  over  the  little  village  of  Zuyk,  at  essentially  the  same  altitude  as  the  long 
spit  on  the  Bibi-Eibat  ridge.  The  position  of  these  spits  is  shown  at  C,  in  fig.  17, 
and  the  profile  of  one  of  them  in  fig.  19.  It  should  be  remarked  that  they  are  on 
the  western  side  of  the  ridge,  and  therefore  turned  away  from  the  open  Caspian. 
They  are  about  600  feet  apart.  Each  one  has  the  form  of  a  flat  spur,  a  little  lower 
than  the  crest  of  the  ridge,  about  160  feet  wide  and  250  feet  long,  falling  off  with  a 
steep  western  face  of  1 5  feet  on  the  free  western  side.  They  are  composed,  as  far  as 
may  be  judged  from  tlieir  surface  materials,  of  rock  slabs,  from  2  to  4  feet  in  diame- 
ter, and  of  rounded  cobbles,  derived  from  the  ridge ;  also  of  pebbles,  worn  from  the 
ridge-making  pebbly  sandstone.  Close  by  the  southern  spit  is  a  small  patch  of 
cobbles,  lying  on  the  bare  rock  of  the  ridge  slope;  1,000  feet  further  south  is  a  larger 
oval  patch,  250  feet  in  diameter  and  8  or  10  feet  thick,  of  cobbles  up  to  2  feet  in 
diameter.  Although  the  inner  structtire  of  these  spits  and  patches  was  not  revealed, 
we  were  constrained  b>-  the  significance  of  their  materials,  fonn,  and  position  to 
interpret  them  as  the  mark  of  a  fonner  Caspian  shore,  when  the  crest  of  the  mono- 
clinal ridge  appeared  only  as  a  low  island,  exposed  to  the  full  force  of  deep-water 
wa\-es,  by  which  the  slabs  were  toni  from  the  exposed  eastern  face  of  the  island  and 
thrown  on  its  western  side.  As  in  the  case  of  the  cobble  spit  on  the  Bibi-Eibat 
ridge,  these  spits  nuist  ha\-e  been  rapidh'  formed  during  a  relatively  brief  high-le\-el 
stand  of  the  Caspian.  In  an\-  case,  a  special  importance  attaches  to  the  highest 
shoreline,  and  it  was  therefore  with  no  small  degree  of  interest  that  we  looked 
forward  from  our  stay  at  Baku  to  the  opportunity  of  studying  the  eastern  coast  of 
the  Caspian  at  Krasnovodsk. 

THE    QUATERXARV   SHORELINES    NEAR    KRASNOVODSK    AND  JEBEL 

Krasnovodsk  is  on  the  north  side  of  a  bay  that  is  inclosed  from  the  Caspian  by 
a  long  soutli-pointing  sand-spit.  Here  we  were  courteously  received  by  Colonel 
\'olkofnikof,  governor  of  the  district,  who  detailed  one  of  his  mounted  guards  to 
ser\'e  as  a  guide.  An  afternoon  and  a  morning  gave  us  time  to  measure  a  number 
of  elevated  beaches  and  to  find  some  high-lying  cobble  beds  of  doubtful  relations. 
The  barrenness  of  the  landscape  was  remarkable,  in  view  of  its  innnediate  proximity 
to  the  sea,  whose  waters  stretch  beyond  the  horizon  to  the  south  and  west.  The 
town  stands  in  part  on  the  eastern  slope  of  a  "tombolo"  or  gravel  reef,  which,  with 
a  similar  but  higher  reef  a  mile  or  more  to  the  west,  has  tied  a  fonner  island  of 
granitic  rock  to  the  limestone  escarpment  of  the  mainland  on  the  north,  as  shown 
in  fig.  20.  The  eastern  reef  is  about  135  feet  over  the  Caspian  ;  the  western  reef, 
more  exposed  to  the  sea  waves  at  its  time  of  making,  reaches  a  height  of  185  feet. 
A  ditch  that  had  been  cut  through  the  eastern  reef  disclosed  something  of  its 
structure,  from  which  we  inferred  that  it  was  built  during  a  time  of  rising  water. 


34 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


Beaches  and  cobble  beds  in  the  same  neighborhood  were  noted  at  8,  20,  35,  45,  60, 
1 15,  135,  and  210  feet.  The  precipitous  southern  escarpment  of  the  barren  Kuba 
Dai,'-h,  which  stretches  east  and  west,  a  mile  north  of  Krasnovodsk,  has  a  steeper 
slope  and  a  lighter  color  near  its  base  than  above,  because  of  the  subrecent  under- 
cutting h\  the  high-le\-el  Caspian  waves  and  the  resulting  exposure  of  un.weathered 
rock  ;  this  suggests  a  verj-  recent  high-water  stand  of  the  sea.  The  elexated 
beaches  that  extend  from  the  eastern  tombolo  along  the  mountain  Ijase  are  skirted 
by  the  railroad  for  some  miles.  Many  sections  of  their  rolled  gravels  are  exposed. 
All  these  reef  and  beach  deposits  are  so  laid  as  to  sho\\-  that  previous  to  their  forma- 
tion the  surface  on  which  the)-  rest  had  been  subject  to  subaerial  erosion.  Hence 
here,  as  at  Baku,  the  Caspian  rose  to  its  fonner  levels,  yet  whether  from  a  lower 
level  than  to-day  I  can  not  affirm ;  but  Walther  quotes  the  record  of  a  boring  on  the 
shore  of  the  Caspian  southeast  of  Krasnovodsk  in  which  "dune  .sands"  were  found 


Fig.  20. — Rough  Sketch  Map  and  Secrions  of  the  District  about  Krasnovodsk. 


to  a  depth  of  35  meters (1898 ,2 1 1).  The  volume  of  material  in  these  reefs  and  beaches, 
on  the  lee  shore  of  the  Caspian,  was  much  greater  than  in  those  about  Baku,  and 
the  beaches  were  comparable  in  size  to  the  beaches  on  the  ele\ated  shorelines  of  the 
Bonneville  and  Laurentian  lakes.  The  size  of  the  spit  that  incloses  the  bay  of 
Krasnovodsk  at  present  sea  level  is  also  much  larger  than  an}-  wave-built  sliore 
fonns  that  we  had  seen  near  Baku. 

Shorelines  of  similar  altitude  were  seen  on  the  flanks  of  the  Balkhan  Moun- 
tains, near  Jebel  station  of  the  Central  Asiatic  railroad,  about  100  miles  east  of 
Krasnovodsk.  The  station  was  56  feet  over  the  Caspian,  and  from  this  we 
detennined  the  neighboring  delta  beaches,  a  mile  or  two  distant,  to  be  150  and  250 
feet  over  the  same  base.  One  of  the  higher  deltas  is  shown  in  fig.  21.  There  was 
nothing  indicative  of  shore-wave  work  seen  at  still  higher  levels  on  the  mountain 
side.  It  was  to  deposits  of  the  Pliocene  Caspian  that  Konshin  (1886,  383)  refers  in 
a  neighboring  locality  as  giving  unmistakable  traces  of  seashore  action  at  a  height 
of  almost  "50  sazhen"  (roughly  300  feet)  over  the  present  Caspian.  Walther 
makes  brief  reference  to  the  deltas  near  Jebel  (p.  103).  It  is  to  be  noted  that  the 
delta  beaches  of  the  two  le\-els  here  recorded  occur  in  the  lower  part  of  ra\-ines 
eroded  in  the  northwest  face  of  the  mountain,  and  show  that  here  as  elsewhere 


CASPIAN    SHORELINES    NEAR    KRASNOVODSK. 


35 


the  processes  of  erosion  had  had  a  lower  baselevel  before  the  beaches  were  built ; 
that  is,  the  Caspian  here  as  elsewhere  rose  upon  the  mountain  flanks  from  a 
fonnerly  lower  level. 

The  more  problematic  cobble  deposits  near  Krasnovodsk  lie  at  altitudes  of 
from  400  to  470  feet  over  the  Caspian,  in  notches  (NN,  fig.  20)  on  the  steep  southern 
face  of  the  high  escarpment,  the  Kuba  Dagh,  fonned  of  vertical  Jurassic  limestones, 
whose  sharp  points  rise  600  or  1,000  feet  abo\'e  the  sea.  There  can  be  little  doubt 
that  the  well-rounded  cobbles  and  bowlders,  from  2  to  5  feet  in  diameter,  indicate 
wave  action,  but  it  is  not  clear  when  the  wave  action  took  place.  A  curious  feature 
is  the  occurrence  with  the  cobbles  of  subangular  scraps  of  dark  crystalline  rock,  up 
to  5  or  6  inches  in  diameter,  apparenth-  derived  from  the  cnstalline  ridge  at  the 


Fig.  2 1 . — An  Elevated  Caspian  Shoreline  in  the  Balkhan  Mountains,  near  Jebel  Station, 
Central  Asiatic  Railway. 


end  of  the  tombolos,  although  a  mile  of  low  land  now  separates  the  ridge  from  tlie 
Kuba  Dagh.  It  is  eminenth'  possible  that  the  cobbles  should  be  associated  with 
the  horizontal  marls  and  limestones,  Andrussow's  "  Aktschlag\lscliichten,"  a  section 
of  which  we  saw  on  the  caravan  route  to  Klii\a  on  the  north  side  of  the  Kuba  Dagh, 
micoinformably  overlying  its  vertical  layers,  as  in  fig.  20;  and  if  so,  they  would  be 
iiuich  older  than  the  modern  Caspian  shorelines  that  we  were  looking  for. 

The  only  safe  test  to  apply  to  these  cobble  beds,  as  well  as  to  those  in  the  600- 
foot  spits  near  Baku,  will  be  to  search  for  them  at  other  points  where  the  coast  is 
high  enough  to  have  received  similar  marks.  If  we  provisionally  accept  the  Baku 
spits  as  marking  a  temporaiy  shoreline,  it  is  possible  that  much  of  their  exceptional 
height  may  be  due  to  relativeh^  local  warping.     Such  a  supposition  is  not  inherently 


36  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

improbable,  for  Baku  lies  on  the  line  of  the  Caucasus  range,  where  great  disturb- 
ances have  taken  place  in  not  remote  geological  periods,  and  where  minor  movements 
might  exjDectably  be  continued  into  recent  time.  It  should  be  noted,  moreover, 
that  the  highest  shorelines  at  Krasnovodsk,  210  feet,  and  at  Jebel,  250  feet,  differ 
by  a  greater  amount  than  should  be  ascribed  to  error  of  barometer  readings,  and 
that  both  of  these  levels  are  decidedly  below  the  undoubtable  signs  of  modem  wave 
work  near  Baku,  at  400  feet  In  further  confirmation  of  warping,  we  may  quote 
Mushketofs  statement  (1886,  I,  692)  to  the  effect  that  in  the  southern  Caspian  the 
Quaternary  Aralo-Caspian  shoreline  almost  merges  with  the  present  shoreline.  In 
\-iew  of  this  it  is  desirable  to  measure  the  elevated  shorelines  of  the  Caspian  at 
many  points  before  attempting  to  restore  its  outline  at  the  time  of  its  maximum 
extension.  It  is  very  possible  that  the  relative  dates  of  the  various  shorelines  may 
finally  be  better  detennined  by  means  of  the  amount  of  warping  that  the\-  have 
suffered — the  latest  ones  the  least — than  in  any  other  way. 

Further  consideration  of  the  eastern  extension  of  the  Caspian  will  be  found  in 
subsequent  pages. 

THE  PLAINS  OF  SOUTHERN  TURKESTAN. 

A  great  part  of  Turkestan,  south  and  east  of  the  Aral  Sea,  is  a  desert  plain 
connecting  southwestward  with  the  lowland  bordering  the  southern  Caspian  by  the 
Balkhan  gateway  in  the  belt  of  highlands  that,  farther  to  the  southeast,  fonns  the 
boundar\-  of  the  Russian  and  Persian  dominions.  A  large  part  of  the  desert  plain 
is  described  by  some  of  the  Russian  geologists  as  having  been  covered  by  the 
Pliocene  Aralo-Caspian  Sea,  and  a  smaller  southwestern  part  by  the  post-Pliocene 
sea,  whose  waters  have  since  then  gradually  withdrawn  to  their  present  separate 
basins.  It  is  evident  that  the  varying  area  of  this  great  inland  sea  must  have, 
directly  and  indirectly,  exerted  a  controlling  influence  on  the  distribution  of  the 
contemporan,-  human  hihabitants  of  the  region,  if  any  such  there  were ;  hence  the 
importance  of  gaining  as  full  a  knowledge  as  possible  of  Aralo-Caspian  histon,'  in 
the  course  of  our  explorations. 

The  following  summary'  concerning  the  relation  of  the  southern  Turkestan 
plains  to  the  Aralo-Caspian  problem,  as  detennined  by  Russian  observers,  ma\-  ser\-e 
as  an  introduction  to  the  record  of  our  own  obser\ations.  One  has  frequent  occa- 
sion, in  reviewing  the  reports  of  the  Russian  explorers,  to  admire  the  persistence 
with  which  the>-  penetrated  the  desert  region,  and  to  percei\-e  in  their  successful 
subjugation  of  this  part  of  the  Asiatic  wilderness  a  close  similarity  to  our  "  winning 
of  the  west,"  except  that  theirs  is  the  greater  task ;  for  the  deserts  of  Asia  are 
broader  and  more  barren  than  those  of  North  America,  and  the  mountain  ranges 
are  higher  there  than  here.  The  settlers  of  the  United  States  had  a  continent  of 
moderate  width  to  cross  and  found  within  it  only  a  scattered  native  population,  and 
on  its  Pacific  side  only  a  slightly  resistant  offshoot  of  Spanish  power,  while  the 
Russians  are  expanding  into  the  broadest  of  the  land  masses,  where  the  people  of 
the  interior  are  well  established,  where  the  British  occupation  of  the  populous 
peninsula  of  India  is  more  aggressive  than  the  Spanish  occupation  of  Mexico,  and 
where  the  enonnous  populations  of  the  Pacific  border  find  no  American  analogy. 


THE   ARALO-CASPIAN    SEA    IN    THE    KARA-KUM.  37 

The  plains  of  southern  Turkestan  are  described  by  Mushketof  and  others  as 
occupjing  an  extensive  area  of  depression  which  has  received  the  waste  washed 
into  it  from  the  surrounding  higher  lands.  These  higher  lands  are  as  follows :  The 
Ust-urt  plateau  on  the  west  is  an  uplift  of  late  Tertiary-  strata,  being  covered  in  its 
western  part  at  least  by  the  Akchlag\l  formation  of  Andrussof  (1902).  Krasno\-odsk 
lies  southwest  of  this  upland,  and  the  sections  already  given  in  fig.  20,  as  well  as  the 
escarpment  of  the  Ust-urt  farther  east,  suggests  that  the  upland  is  bordered  by  a 
fault  along  its  southern  and  southeastern  margin.  The  Kopet  Dagh,  on  the  south, 
has  been  described  by  Bogdanovich  (1887).  The  range  is  largely  composed  of 
Mesozoic  and  Tertian.-  limestones,  folded  in  a  .somewhat  orderly  fashion,  with  axes 
trending  west-northwest.  The  northwestern  part  of  this  line  of  disturbance  is 
known  as  the  Kurian  Dagh,  the  Small  and  Great  Balkhans,  and  the  Kuba  Dagh  (the 
last  rising  back  of  Krasnovodsk).  The  farther  extension  of  the  same  line  leads  to 
the  Caucasus  range.  The  plains  are  bounded  on  the  east  by  the  out-reaching 
members  of  the  great  mountain  systems  of  Central  Asia,  well  known  to  in\-ol\e 
late  Tertiar>'  and  post-Tertiar)-  uplifts,  as  will  further  appear  in  Mr.  Huntington's 
report.     To  the  north  the  plains  continue  far  beyond  the  region  here  considered. 

The  depressed  area  between  these  higher  lands,  the  southern  Turkestan  depres- 
sion, is  called  a  grnbcn  by  Mushketof,  at  least  that  part  between  the  I'st-urt  and  the 
Kopet  Dagh.  It  seems  to  have  been  kept  below  the  surrounding  highlands  b}- 
repeated  differential  mo\ements,  and  it  has  therefore  long  been  receiving  their  waste. 
It  slopes  away  from  the  higher  borders  after  the  fashion  of  piedmont  fluviatile  plains, 
of  which  it  seems  to  be  in  large  part  an  excellent  example.  Its  surface  materials 
are  coarse  near  the  margin,  but  become  finer  farther  forward.  Many  of  the  streams 
that  descend  from  the  mountains  wither  away  on  the  plains;  only  the  largest  rivers, 
the  Amu  and  the  Syr,  succeed  in  reaching  the  Aral.  The  Tejen  and  the  Murg-ab 
disappear  on  the  southern  plains ;  the  Zerafshan,  greatly  reduced  by  use  in  irriga- 
tion in  Bokhara,  approaches  but  fails  to  reach  the  Amu ;  and  the  Clui  wastes  away 
on  the  plains  farther  north. 

It  is  the  district  south  of  the  Amu  with  which  we  are  at  present  concerned. 
This  part  of  the  plains  is  chiefly  a  barren  waste,  the  Desert  of  the  Black  Sands,  the 
Kara-Kum. 

THE   QUATERNARY   ARALO-CASPIAN    IX    THE    KARA-KUM. 

The  deposits  of  the  Pliocene  Aralo-Caspian  are  described  by  some  WTiters  as 
underlying  all  the  Kara-Kum,  but  there  does  not  seem  to  be  entire  agreement  on 
this  point.  The  Ouaternar].-  Aralo-Caspian  is  belie\ed  to  have  been  of  less  extent, 
but  it  has  not  been  well  defined  in  Turkestan  (cf  Mushketof,  1886,  I,  696),  probably 
because  of  the  difficulty  of  exploration  in  the  desert.  Jakalof  (1882)  speaks  of  the 
general  belief  that  the  Kara-Kum  is  the  bed  of  the  expanded  Aralo-Caspian  Sea, 
but  notes  that  sea  shells  are  not  found  in  the  desert.  Sjogren  (1S8S)  briefly  states 
that  the  last  rise  of  the  Caspian  covered  the  Kara-Kum.  Konshin  ( 1 896)  gives  a 
sketch-map  of  the  sea,  showing  its  area  at  the  beginning  and  at  the  middle  of  the 
Quatemar}-  period  and  at  the  opening  of  the  present  or  historic  period,  and  thus 


^o  )4  6 


38  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

indicating  a  progressive  diniinntion  of  size.  A  continuous  decrease  from  the 
larger  Pliocene  to  the  diminishing  Quaternar>-  area  is  inferred  by  this  observer  and 
explained  by  dr}-ing  winds  and  by  uplift  of  the  eastern  part  of  the  plain,  where  the 
surface  is  now  2,000  feet  above  sea-level.  Obruchcf  also  describes  the  Quateniar)- 
Aralo-Caspian  as  the  direct  successor  of  the  Pliocene  sea,  the  decrease  of  area  being 
ascribed  to  uplift  on  the  east  (1890,  25).  Neither  of  these  obser\-ers  gives  explicit 
recognition  to  the  idea  that  the  Quaternar)-  sea  resulted  from  the  expansion  of  a 
smaller  early-Quaternar}-  sea,  to  which  the  waters  had  shrunk  from  their  great 
Pliocene  extension. 

The  Aralo-Caspian  is  marked  by  Konshin,  in  the  article  just  refened  to,  as 
reaching,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Quaternar)-,  eastward  to  the  present  ends  of  the 
Murg-ab  and  Tejen  rivers,  and  southward  to  the  base  of  the  mountains  at  Kizil- 
Arvat ;  farther  west  it  connected  with  the  Caspian  basin  by  the  Balkhan  gateway  ; 
to  the  northwest  it  spread  be)-ond  the  present  Aral ;  to  the  northeast  it  had  a 
well-defined  boundar)'  south  of  the  Anui  River.  Here  a  higher  northeastern  part 
of  the  Kara-Kum,  underlaid  by  Pliocene  and  older  strata,  breaks  off  in  a  dissected, 
south-facing  escarpment,  the  Ungus,  which  Obruchef  ascribes  to  a  fault  (1890,  250), 
and  along  the  base  of  which  Konshin  describes  shorelines  (1887,  238),  probably 
contemporaneous  with  those  at  Krasnovodsk  and  Jebel.  The  floor  of  the  depression 
south  of  the  Ungus  is  stated  by  Lessar  to  be  44.6  meters  below  the  Caspian  (1889,  7 14). 
This  escarpment  and  the  shorelines  along  its  base  are  features  toward  which  future 
obser\'ation  might  well  be  directed,  with  the  hope  of  deciphering  the  histoiT  of  the 
sea  in  greater  detail.  If  I  understand  Konshin's  description,  the  dissection  of  the 
Pliocene  strata  in  the  escarpment  must  have  taken  place  before  the  shorelines  were 
made  at  its  base.  It  might,  therefore,  here  be  possible  to  recognize  the  time  interval 
that  obsen'ations  elsewhere  lead  us  to  suppose  elapsed  between  extensions  of  the 
Pliocene  and  the  Quaternar}-  Aralo-Caspian  Sea,  and  perhaps  to  decipher  the  pre- 
sumably complicated  histor}-  of  the  Quaternary-  sea  itself 

In  the  late  Quaternary-,  the  sea  was  reduced  to  lower  and  lower  levels,  and  the 
Caspian  and  the  Aral  were  thus  separated,  except  for  a  water  passage  or  channel,  the 
Usboi,  which  passes  along  the  southeastern  base  of  the  Ust-xnt  and  through  the 
Balkhan  gateway.  There  has  been  much  discussion  regarding  the  nature  and  origin 
of  this  channel.  As  it  has  the  form  of  a  river  channel,  and  as  the  Anui  is  the  only 
large  ri\-er  in  the  region,  the  Usboi  has  been  repeatedly  said  to  be  the  former  course 
of  the  Amu.  For  example,  Sievers  (1873)  describes  the  Usboi  as  a  channel  so  well 
preser\'ed  that  it  seems  to  have  been  only  lately  abandoned ;  it  is  about  65  feet  deep, 
two-thirds  of  a  mile  wide,  eroded  in  the  unconsolidated  deposits  of  the  steppe  or  in 
the  firmer  Miocene  beds  on  the  border  of  the  Ust-urt.  The  channel  has  man}-  bends ; 
it  often  divides,  .so  as  to  include  islands,  but  there  are  no  branch  channels  entering 
it.  Other  obsers-ers  have  noted  that  the  gentle  southwestward  descent  of  the 
channel  is  broken  by  the  sills  of  rapids  at  several  points,  from  wliich  it  may  be 
inferred  that  the  stream  by  which  the  channel  was  eroded  did  not  endure  long. 
The  Amu  being  a  large  river  not  far  distant,  its  former  connection  with  the  Usboi 
seems  to  ha\-e  been  assumed  without  waiting  to  trace  an  actual  connection  between 


THE    USBOI    CHANNEL.  39 

the  two.  So,  in  1881,  wlicii  Koiisliiii  first  saw  the  Usboi,  he  also  took  it  for  the 
old  path  of  the  Amu  (18S6,  380),  l)ut  on  further  examination  he  concluded  that 
while  the  depression  in  which  the  Usboi  is  eroded  had  served  as  a  strait  to  unite 
the  expanded  Aral  and  Caspian  seas,  it  had  never  sen-ed  as  the  path  of  o\-erflow 
from  the  Aral  to  the  Caspian,  and  that  the  river-like  channel  along  the  axis  of  the 
depression  was  the  work  of  local  wet-weather  streams  (1886,  427-431) ;  but  it  should 
be  noted  that  one  reason  for  this  conclusion  was  the  deductive  belief  that  the  Aral 
could  not  have  had  a  water  supply  sufficient  for  overflow  after  the  climate  had 
become  so  dv}-  as  to  cause  the  Caspian  to  shrink  below  the  Aral  level  (1886,  428). 

Some  ten  years  later  (1895)  Konshin  reversed  this  earlier  opinion,  and  treated 
the  Usboi  as  the  channel  carv-ed  by  the  Aral  overflow  outlet.  He  still  maintained, 
however,  that  the  Amu  had  never  flowed  directly  into  the  Usboi,  and  in  evidence 
of  this  he  pointed  out  that  there  was  no  channel  leading  from  the  Amu  to  the  head 
of  the  Usboi ;  that  the  Sary-Kamish  depression  lay  between  the  two,  and  that  the 
Usboi  channel  was  decided!}-  smaller  than  that  of  the  Amu  to-da)-.  More  than  one 
writer  notes  the  absence  of  canals  and  ruins  along  the  Usboi,  and  concludes  that  the 
river  which  eroded  the  channel  must  therefore  have  been  salt  and  unattracti\'e  to 
settlement.  This  conclusion  mifortunately  begs  the  important  question  of  the 
existence  of  a  house-building  and  canal-cutting  human  population  at  the  time  the 
Usboi  was  formed.  No  independent  proof  of  man's  existence  at  that  time  and  in 
that  place  has  yet  been  found.  In  this  connection  the  levels  at  some  critical  points 
may  be  introduced.  Bala  Isliem,  336  feet  (72  meters)  above  the  Caspian,  is  at 
the  divide  between  the  Aral  and  the  Caspian  districts ;  the  Usboi  is  eroded  on  the 
gentle  slope  southwest  from  the  divide ;  no  channel  occurs  on  the  northeast  slope. 
Sary-Kamish  is  the  name  of  some  .salt  lakes  in  the  bottom  of  a  depression  north  of 
Bala  Ishem,  50  feet  (15  meters)  below  the  Caspian,  whose  separation  from  tiie  Aral  of 
to-day  may  be  due  to  the  growth  of  the  great  Amu  delta  between  the  two  basins. 
Walther  quotes  various  other  altitudes  (1898,212).  As  the  Amu  now  enters  the  Aral 
alone,  the  fonner  waters  of  the  Sary-Kamish  depression  have  been  e%-aporated  almost 
to  dryness,  thus  repeating  the  case  of  the  Colorado  River  at  the  head  of  the  Cnilf  of 
California.  The  I'sboi  channel  nuist  have  lengthened  southwestward  as  the  Caspian 
retreated,  thus  producing  features  similar  to  those  well  known  in  the  Bonneville 
basin  of  Utah.  It  is  pertinent  to  quote  in  this  connection  Semenofs  obser\-ation 
that  the  plain  bordering  the  Caspian  southeast  of  Krasno\odsk  appears  to  be  the 
remains  of  spacious  deltas  fonned  by  large  rivers  which  for  man}-  centiiries  here 
entered  the  sea  from  the  east  (1888,  292).  Konshin  (1887,  237)  notes  that  Caspian 
shells  are  abundant  on  the  desert  plain  for  125  miles  (200  km.)  east  of  the  present 
shore  and  up  to  nearl}-  200 feet  (60  meters)  above  the  present  level;  but  the}- are  not 
mentioned  in  association  with  the  .shorelines  of  the  Ungus.  Obmchef  gives  similar 
statements  (1890,  246). 

Tliere  seems  to  have  been  comparatively  little  discussion  of  the  relation  of  the 
Quaternary  Aralo-Caspian  in  Turkestan  to  the  climatic  changes  of  the  glacial 
period.  .Sjogren  (1888)  cxjilains  the  ex]>ansion  of  the  sea  b\-  the  greater  volume  of 
water  received  from  the  glaciated  area  of  northern  Russia,  and  suggests  that  as  far  as 


40  EXPLORATIONS   IN    TURKESTAN. 

the  Aralo-Caspian  region  is  concerned,  the  expansion  of  the  sea  was  the  cause  rather 
than  the  consequence  of  local  climatic  changes.  Petrusevitch  (1880)  ascribes  the 
shrinkage  of  the  sea  and  the  withering  of  the  Murg-ab  and  the  Tejen  from  an 
inferred  connection  with  the  Amu,  to  an  assinned  destruction  of  forests  in  the 
neighboring  mountains.  The  probability  of  repeated  Quate^lar^•  expansions  of  the 
sea  does  not  appear  to  have  been  considered ;  but  in  this  statement  I  may  be  doing 
injustice  to  Russian  obser\'ers,  whose  more  recent  articles  I  have  not  been  able  to 
consult. 

THE    PIEDMONT    PLAINS. 

Since  the  withdrawal  of  the  Pliocene  sea,  the  eastern  and  southern  borders  of 
the  plains  of  southern  Turkestan  appear  to  ha\'e  been  aggraded  by  the  rivers  that 
flow  out  upon  them  from  the  mountains.  That  a  certain  measure  of  such  constnic- 
tive  action  has  taken  place  is  announced  by  the  Russian  geologists,  but  it  is  not 
apparent  that  tlie  full  measure  of  ri\er  action  has  been  recognized.  Some  of  the 
strata  of  the  plains  are  .said  to  be  not  fluviatile  but  lacustrine,  because  they  are  of 
fine  texture  and  uniform  structure,  without  the  variable  layers  of  gravel  that  are 
by  implication  supposed  to  be  always  indicati\'e  of  river  work  ;  but  this  seems  to  be 
a  simpler  solution  than  the  problem  deserves.  There  are  man}'  rivers  that  do  not 
carr\-  gravel,  and  there  are  many  river  plains  whose  smooth  surface  nuist  receive 
ver)"  even  and  unifonn  deposits  of  flood-laid  silts  o\'er  large  areas.  Records  of 
borings  are  quoted  by  Walther  (1888,  210)  which  show  river  nuids  on  sand  and 
loess  to  a  depth  of  nearly  50  meters  beneath  the  bed  of  the  Amu  River  at  Charjui, 
where  the  great  railroad  bridge  was  built.  The  record  of  a  well  boring  at  Askhabad, 
quoted  by  the  same  author  (1900,  105)  shows  variable  piedmont  deposits  over  2,000 
feet  deep.  It  seems,  indeed,  as  if  we  had  in  the  plains  of  Turkestan  and  the  Great 
Plains  of  our  West  one  of  the  most  striking  of  the  many  physiographic  resemblances 
between  Eurasia  and  North  America ;  and  that  there  as  well  as  here  an  increasing 
share  may  be  given  to  the  action  of  aggrading  rivers  in  fonning  the  plains,  as 
obseiA-ations  are  extended.  It  is  well  known  that  the  tide  of  geological  opinion  in 
this  countr\'  has  in  recent  years  tunied  more  and  more  toward  a  fluviatile  origin  for 
the  strata  of  the  Great  Plains  that  slope  eastward  from  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and 
the  traditional  lacustrine  origin  of  the  plains  strata  has  been  repeatedly  questioned; 
so  we  may  e.xpect,  as  closer  attention  is  given  to  the  details  of  river-laid  fonnations, 
that  a  larger  and  larger  share  of  the  fresh-water  strata  that  slope  westward  from  the 
mountains  of  Central  Asia  may  be  interpreted  as  fluviatile  rather  than  as  lacustrine. 

In  one  respect,  however,  the  comparison  between  the  two  continents  reveals  a 
contrast.  In  North  .\merica  the  rivers  that  flow  eastward  from  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains are  now  dissecting  the  plains  that  they  once  built  up,  as  has  been  so  well 
shoxsTi  by  Johnson  ;  while  in  Turkestan  the  rivers  that  emerge  from  the  mountains, 
heavily  silt-laden,  are  still  engaged  in  building  up  the  plains.  This  is  notably  the 
case  with  the  Murg-ab  and  the  Tejen,  as  will  be  more  full\-  stated  below,  for  these 
rivers  wither  away  without  reaching  the  sea,  and  ever>-  particle  of  sand  and  silt  that 
they  bring  from  their  headwater  valleys  in  the  moimtains  must  be  laid  down  as 
the}-  dwindle  to  dryness  on  the  plains.  Moreover,  while  the  rivers  at  present  bring 
abundant  gravels  out  from  the  mountains  and  spread  them  on  the  nearer  parts  of 


THE    AKHAL-TEKIN    OASES.  41 

the  plains,  the  ri\ers  of  late  Tertiar>'  time  must  have  had  a  much  smaller  quantity' 
of  coarse  detritus ;  for,  at  that  epoch,  the  mountains  had  been  reduced  to  relatively 
low  relief,  as  will  be  shown  particularly  in  Mr.  Huntington's  report,  and  the 
waste  that  they  then  shed  must  have  been  for  the  most  part  of  fine  te.xture.  It 
appears,  therefore,  that  a  ver}'  careful  examination  of  the  fresh-water  Tertiary-  and 
Quaternary  .strata  in  the  plains  of  Turkestan  should  be  made  with  a  view  of  deter- 
mining not  only  the  date,  but  also  the  physical  conditions  of  their  deposition.  It  is 
evident  that  the  opportunity  for  organic  life,  and  especially  for  human  life,  would 
have  been  very  different,  according  as  the  plains  are  of  lacustrine  or  flu\iatile  origin. 
Inasmuch  as  man}-  mounds  and  ruins  occur  within  the  area  of  debatable  action,  the 
solution  of  this  problem  has  a  close  relation  to  the  objects  of  our  expedition. 

THE    .\KHAL-TEKIX   OASES. 

The  gently  sloping  plain  that  lies  piedmont  to  the  Kopet  Dagh  and  the  asso- 
ciated ranges — the  mountains  that  divide  Persia  and  Turkestan — is  a  case  in  point 
The  plain  here  receives  from  point  to  point  sufficient  water  from  the  mountains  to 
support  a  series  of  \-illages,  known  as  the  Akhal-tekin  oases.  The  Central  Asiatic 
railroad,  from  Krasno\-odsk  to  Tashkent,  naturally  was  constructed  through  this  settled 
belt  on  the  way  into  the  interior.  A  section  of  the  mountains  at  Kizil  Ar\-at  is  given 
by  Bogdanovitch  (1887),  in  which  the  north-dipping  ^Miocene  limestones  and  clays 
on  the  crests  and  flanks  are  followed  b)-  the  horizontal  layers  of  the  plains,  which 
are  labeled  Aralo-Caspian.  Again,  Konshin's  sketch  map  (1896)  of  the  Quaternary- 
sea  brings  its  border  close  to  the  mountain  base  at  Kizil-Ar\-at.  He  had  earlier 
(1883,  383)  reported  the  occurrence  of  variegated  clays  in  the  gorges  back  of  Kizil- 
Ar\-at,  which  he  referred  to  the  Pliocene  Aralo-Caspian. 

During  our  brief  stop  at  Kizil- Ars-at  we  rode  out  to  the  mountains  and  had  a 
good  view  of  their  structure.  The  mountain-making  rocks  are  hea\-y-  limestones, 
underlaid  and  overlaid  with  clays  or  shales,  all  compressed  into  great  folds,  and  much 
denuded.  We  looked  from  one  of  the  anticlinal  limestone  ridges  into  an  inner  syn- 
clinal valley,  where  the  weak  clays  that  overlie  the  limestones  were  terraced.  Tlie 
stream  from  this  inner  \alley  cuts  a  narrow  gorge  near  the  end  of  the  west-pitching 
limestone  anticline,  but  the  road  follows  a  valley  around  the  west  end  of  the  anti- 
cline. Where  the  stream  issues  from  the  mountains  it  has  terraced  the  reddish 
and  yellowish  clays  on  the  northern  slope  at  several  levels,  and  has  strewn  gravels 
on  the  terrace  floors.  The  terraces  decrease  in  height  northward,  as  if  they  would 
merge  in  the  plain,  but  the  front  of  the  higher  terrace  has  been  much  consumed 
and  eroded  into  a  sort  of  bad-land  topography-,  shown  in  fig.  22,  during  the  produc- 
tion of  the  lower  terraces.  This  suggests  a  recent  uplift,  with  its  greatest  measure 
in  the  range  and  rapidly  decreasing  toward  the  plains.  The  spurs  of  the  mountain 
ridges  hereabout  seem  to  ha^•e  been  graded  to  moderate  slopes  with  reference 
to  the  uppennost  terrace,  while  narrow  ravines  and  gulches  are  cut  in  the 
mountain  flanks  with  respect  to  the  present  valley  floors.  Evidently-  a  much 
longer  time  must  have  been  de\-oted  to  the  erosion  of  the  highest  terrace  floor, 
which  once  extended  continuously  along  the  mountain  base,  than  in  opening  the 


42 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


narrow  valley  floor  of  the  present  stream.  Evidence  of  similar  terracing  in  the 
range  southwest  of  Askhabad  will  be  given  in  a  later  section.  We  saw  no  indica- 
tions of  deltas  or  other  shoreline  features  here — nothing  but  the  results  of  forward- 
washing  stream  action.  It  may  be  that  the  chief  evidence  for  drawing  the  Quater- 
nar>-  Caspian  shoreline  near  Kizil-.\r\at  is  to  be  found  in  the  agreement  of  the 
altitude  of  the  plain,  a  few  miles  from  the  mountain  base,  with  the  level  of  the  sea 
as  detennined  b>-  recognizable  shorelines  elsewhere.  In  that  case  its  location  can, 
of  course,  be  onh-  approximate. 

At  Bakharden,  between  Kizil-Ar\-at  and  Askhabad,  we  rode  out  to  the  dunes 
along  the  course  of  a  small  stream,  \\hose  occasional  floods  keej)  a  graded  jiassage 
open  among  the  sands  for  several  miles  from  the  mountains.     The  surface  of  the 


led  Terraces  at  (he  base  of  the  Kopet  Dagh,  south  of  the  Kizil-Arvat,  looking  southwest.  The 
horizontal  Hmestones  o(  the  Mountain  on  the  lef 


Fig.  11.      Dlssec 
I 
the  Terraces  in  the  middle  distance 


left  are  suddenly  bent  down  so  as  to  pass  under  the  clays  of 


sands  was  irregular  at  first  (fig.  23);  then  the  dunes  began  in  moderate  relief, 
seldom  exceeding  15  feet  in  height.  The  scarps  of  the  crescentic  dunes  or  barkhans 
(fig.  24)  were  to  the  west,  as  if  the  sands  had  been  drifted  by  easterh-  winds.  The 
sand  bore  a  scanty  growth  of  grass,  except  on  the  freshest  dunes.  Between  the 
dunes  and  the  mountains  there  was  no  sign  of  shore-terrace  or  delta  observed.  The 
piedmont  slope  extends  forward  without  interruption  as  far  as  we  saw  it.  It  should, 
of  course,  be  remembered  that  the  abandoned  Caspian  shorelines,  wherever  they 
stand  on  the  piedmont  plain,  may  be  faint  and  not  easily  recognizable  ;  nevertheless, 
they  were  recognized  so  easily  at  Baku,   Krasnovodsk,  and  Jebel,  that  failure  to  see 


THE    AKHAL-TEKIN    OASES. 


43 


them  at  Bakharden  and  elsewhere  along  the  base  of  the  Kopet  Dagh  inaj-  be  fairly 
taken  to  indicate  tliat  the\'  do  not  exist  there.  The  little  deltas  in  the  ravines  on 
the  nionntain  flank  near  Jebel  were  recognized  at  the  first  glance,  though  a  mile  or 
more  awa}- ;  the  strands  at  Krasnovodsk  were  visible  as  such  from  the  steamer 
before  reaching  land.  The  treeless  piedmont  plain  on  which  the  Akhal-tekin  oases 
are  distributed  is  open,  as  .soon  as  one  leaves  the  villages,  without  obstruction  to 
the  view  for  miles  together,  and  yet  shows  nothing  that  coidd  be  interjjreted  as  a 
shoreline.  It  may  l)e  noted  that  familiarit}-  with  the  Bonneville  shorelines  in  Utah 
gave  us  all  the  more  confidence  in  the  correctness  of  our  conclusion  that  no  shore- 
lines occur  along  the  base  of  the  Kopet  Dagh  at  Kizil-Arvat  and  farther  eastward. 


Fig.  1}. — Sand-hills  near  Bakharden.  looking  south. 

The  railroad  journey  through  the  belt  of  oases  afforded  excellent  op]')ortunity  for 
many  general  views  of  tlie  piedmont  slope.  Gorges  in  the  barren  mountains  ojDen 
upon  fans,  whose  long  forward  descent  was  well  seen  in  profile  before  or  after  passing 
them.  The}'  had  no  resemblance  to  the  flat-topped  deltas  built  in  the  high-level  Bon- 
neville waters  along  the  base  of  the  Wasatch  Mountains  in  Utah.  In  a  district  where 
the  limited  water  supply  liardly  suffices  for  the  needs  of  even  a  scanty  population,  and 
where  the  unredeemed  desert  counts  more  area  in  miles  than  the  fields  rescued  from 
it  count  in  acres,  it  was  curious  to  note  the  precautions  taken  to  guard  the  railroad 
from  destruction  by  floods.  The  faintly  convex  surface  of  the  fans  sheds  the  floods 
now  on  one  radius,  now  on  another;  the  point  where  a  flood  will  reach  the  track 


44 


EXPLORATIONS  IN  TURKESTAN. 


can  not  be  foretold.  Embankments  or  dikes  are  therefore  thrown  np  in  oblique 
lines  on  the  ii])-slope  from  the  track,  so  as  to  gfiiide  the  floods  toward  strong  cuh'erts 
under  the  roadbed.  Yet  even  these  safeguards  do  not  alwajs  suffice.  Not  long 
after  we  left  this  part  of  the  country  the  news  o\-ertook  us  of  a  destmcti\'e  flood 
b\'  which  a  jxirt  of  the  track  near  Kizil-Arvat  had  been  washed  away. 

The  irregular  structure  of  the  piedmont  slope,  as  exposed  in  cuts  along  the 
railroad  line,  is  well  described  by  Walther  (1900,  104).  There  is  a  frequent  and 
irregular  alteration  of  stratified  or  massive  loess-like  clay,  finely  stratified  sands,  and 
coarse  gravel,  with  many  local  unconfonuities ;  all  this  being  the  result  of  the 
variable  action  of  floods  that  sweep  suddenly,  unguided   by  channels,  down   the 


Fig.  24. — A   Barkhan  near  Bakharden,  looking  south. 

piedmont  slope ;  now  eroding,  now  depositing ;  here  sweeping  along  coarse  blocks, 
there  depositing  fine  silts.  Ten  miles  south  of  Askhabad,  where  the  railroad  station 
is  819  feet  altitude,  we  saw,  when  returning  by  the  Meshed  road  from  an  excursion 
in  the  Kopet  Dagh,  more  abundant  piedmont  deposits  of  moinitain-waste  dissected 
to  depths  of  several  hundred  feet.  A  great  thickness  of  these  deposits  has  been 
penetrated  by  the  artesian  boring  in  the  suburbs  of  Askhabad,  already  mentioned, 
2,000  feet  deep,  and  therefore  with  more  than  half  its  depth  below  sea  level,  but 
without  securing  a  water  supply.  The  whole  depth,  as  shown  in  the  record  quoted 
by  Walther  (1900,  105),  is  in  variable  layers  of  clay,  .sand,  and  gravel,  similar  to  the 
deposits  seen  in  the  borrow-pits  near  the  railroad  embankments,  or  in  the  natural 


THE    AKHAL-TEKIN    OASES. 


45 


sections;  and  all  of  this  heavy  deposit  is  therefore  best  explained  by  conditions  and 
processes  like  those  of  to-day  during^  persistent  depression  of  the  surface.  The 
failure  to  secure  a  water  supply  from  this  deep  well  is  in  itself  vor>-  suggestive  of 
the  irregular  underground  structures  and  of  their  torrential  origin. 

Among  the  most  interesting  features  of  this  region  are  the  gently  ascending 
tunnels  that  are  driven  in  search  of  water  into  the  gravels  of  the  piedmont  slope, 
near  the  mountain  base.  Streams  of  sufficient  size  to  use  in  irrigation  are  thus  led 
forth.  The  practice  is  au  ancient  one,  and  is  in  use  from  Turkestan  to  India.  It 
has  lately  been  introduced,  with  good  results,  in  the  arid  parts  of  southern  California, 
where  piedmont  fans  of  mountain-waste  are  extensiveh-  developed.     We  were  told 


Fig.  23. — A  Village  of  Turkoman  Kibitlcas,  near  Kizil-Arvat. 

at  Askhabad  that  trouble  frequently  arises  between  neighboring  villages  when  the 
excavation  of  a  new  tunnel  causes  a  lessening  of  the  water  suppl}-  from  an  older 
tunnel.  The  native  \-illages  (fig.  25)  seemed  wretchedly  poor  at  first  sight,  )-et  some 
of  the  circular  tents — kibitka.s — are  well  furnished  on  the  scale  by  which  the  people 
there  measure  the  needs  of  life;  and  the  carpets  and  wall-bags  are  wo\en — one 
should  rather  say  crocheted — with  a  remarkable  degree  of  taste  in  design  and  color, 
and  of  skill  in  memorized  execution.  W'e  were  entertained  one  afternoon  near 
Askhabad  bv  the  head  man  of  the  native  village,  who  had  been  with  us  on  an 
excursion.  Rugs  were  spread  in  his  little  orchard,  tea  and  fruit  were  ser\-ed,  and 
native  music  was  provided. 


46 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 
THE  KOPET  DAGH. 


Our  intention  in  making  an  excnrsion  fioni  Askhabad  into  the  Kopet  Dagli 
range  was  to  make  fnrther  search  for  any  geologic  or  physiographic  featnres  in  the 
mountains  which  miglit  suggest  subdivisions  of  recent  geological  time,  the  correla- 
tives of  which  could  then  perhaps  be  recognized  in  the  more  monotonous  structure 
of  the  piedmont  plain.  We  were  fairly  successful  as  far  as  the  mountains  were 
concerned,  for  indications  of  subrecent  terracing  were  found  in  tlie  valle\s  here  even 
more  distincth-  than  back  of  Kizil-Arvat,  but  the  recognition  of  the  effects  of  the 


V7. 


ai9' 

fl  A.SKABAD 
•^Arl,•^ian  Well. 


Markou 
5058' 


%P'<ml^,y- 


Fig.  26. — Geological  Outline  Map  of  the  Kopet  Dagh,  southwest  of  Askhabad. 

terracing  in  causing  a  change  in  the  deposits  of  the  plains  will  be  more  difficult. 
The  changes  in  the  mountains  are  made  clear  by  a  revival  of  activity  in  the  streams 
in  eroding  their  \-alle\s ;  but  the  contemporaneous  changes  on  the  plains  are  con- 
cealed by  the  deposition  of  waste  that  the  eroded  mountain  \-alleys  have  furnished. 
The  excursion  gave  us  a  good  sight  of  the  structure  of  several  ranges  in  a  district 
that  is  little  visited,  and  the  results  of  our  observations  are  therefore  briefly  set  forth. 


THE    KOPET   DAGH.  47 

As  our  proposed  route  led  us  across  the  main  range  into  Persian  territory',  General 
Ussakovsky,  governor  of  the  pro\-ince  of  Transcaspia,  was  good  enough  to  advise 
us  concerning  the  necessary  diplomatic  arrangements,  and  the  Persian  consul  at 
Askhabad  informed  his  government  of  our  plans  by  telegraph.  ( ieneral  Ussakovsky 
also  instructed  Colonel  Kukol-Yasnopolsky,  district  go^•ernor  of  Askhabad,  to 
arrange  for  our  escort  of  three  mounted  native  guards,  or  "jiggits,"  and  detailed  his 
secretar}-,  \'asily  Gregorievitch  Yanchevetzky,  to  accompany  us.  The  latter  gentle- 
man proved  most  helpful  from  his  acquaintance  with  the  countr}'  and  the  people. 
He  has  since  then  accompanied  ilr.  Huntington  on  a  winter  journey  to  Sistan,  on 
the  border  between  Persia  and  Afghanistan. 

It  ma}-  be  well  to  sa)-  at  the  outset  that  we  ga\e  practically  no  attention  to  the 
paleontology  of  the  formations  traversed ;  but  we  found  some  Echini  in  the  mountain- 
making  limestones,  and  an  Ostrea  in  the  shales  of  the  valleys.  Geological  descrip- 
tions of  the  formations  noted  below  are  given  in  the  report  by  Bogdanovitch  (1887). 
Figure  17  is  based  upon  unpublished  maps  prepared  by  Russian  topographers  and 
kindly  lent  to  us  by  the  officials  at  Askhabad,  with  pennission  to  publish  our 
traced  outlines.  The  original  scale  is  5  versts  to  an  inch,  here  reduced  to  10  versts 
to  an  inch.  The  altitudes  are  given  on  the  map  in  feet,  and  are  so  quoted  here.  The 
unshaded  areas  are  the  ranges,  anticlinal  for  the  most  part,  of  heavy  Cretaceous 
limestones,  whose  total  thickness  must  be  2,000  or  3,000  feet.  The  oblique  shading 
represents  the  valleys,  synclinal  for  the  most  part,  of  Cretaceous  shales  and  sand- 
stones. The  unshaded  area  on  the  upper  border  of  the  map  is  the  piedmont  plain 
of  mountain  waste. 

THE    FIRrZA    B.\SIN. 

On  the  first  day.  May  30,  we  dro\e  from  Askhabad  to  Firuza,  a  village  situated 
at  an  altitude  of  about  2,000  feet,  in  a  picturesque  valley-basin  that  is  inclosed  from 
the  plains  by  a  local  up-faulted  front  range.  Here  amid  pleasant  groves  of  trees  the 
Russian  officers  stationed  at  Askhabad  have  their  summer  houses,  one  of  which 
was  courteously  placed  at  our  dispo.sal  for  the  night's  stop.  The  monoclinal  front 
range,  which  rises  at  Mount  Markou  to  5,068  feet,  as  well  as  the  broad  anticline  of 
the  main  range,  whose  summits  exceed  9,000  feet  in  altitude,  are  trenched  across  by 
deep  gorges  cut  by  a  stream  which  rises  in  the  inner  Serani  synclinal  valley.  There 
is  a  terrace  along  the  valley  where  it  is  eroded  in  the  shales,  by  which  an  uplift  at  its 
headwaters  with  respect  to  the  plains  seems  to  be  indicated,  as  will  be  under- 
stood from  the  following  facts.  At  the  mouth  of  the  lower  gorge  (altitude  about 
1,300  feet),  the  stream  has  entrenched  itself  about  50  feet  below  the  piedmont  plain. 
Within  the  gorge,  whose  generally  transverse  course  is  modified  by  pronounced 
.serpentine  curves,  the  lower  rock  walls  repeatedly  steepen  at  their  base,  and  so  tend 
to  cause  the  renewed  dissection  of  the  upper  walls,  whose  slopes  seem  to  have  been 
formerly  better  graded.  Seven  miles  up  the  stream,  at  Firuza,  we  ascended  some 
of  the  hills,  gaining  a  fine  view  of  the  synclinal  basin,  and  noting  a  dissected  terrace 
or  bench,  covered  with  coarse  gravels,  cobbles,  and  silt,  here  220  feet  over  the 
stream.     Tlie  increase  in  depth  of  the  present  valley  floor  beneath  the  earlier  valley 


48  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

floor,  as  one  goes  iip-stream,  is  evidently  snggesti\e  of  uplift.  From  the  highest 
hill,  a  nionoclinal  ridge  of  brownish  sandstones,  835  feet  over  Firuza,  we  could  see 
the  modern  flood  plain,  about  a  quarter  mile  wide,  etched  below  the  dissected  gravel 
bench,  which  must  in  its  prime  have  been  from  half  a  mile  to  a  mile  in  width. 

It  may  be  noted  that  about  10  miles  southeast  of  the  gorge  the  monocline  of  the 
outer(Markou)  limestone  range  narrows,  becomes  lower,  and  ends,  and  further  on  the 
flanks  of  the  main  anticline  descend  to  the  plains.  Northwest  of  the  gorge  the 
front  monocline  rapidly  increases  in  height  for  several  miles,  and  its  southwest  slope 
exposes  great,  bare  sheets  of  heav>-,  steep-dipping  limestones.  This  range  is  believed 
to  be  faulted  iip  along  its  front,  because  the  strata  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  gorge 
either  dip  southwest  into  the  range  or  lie  nearly  horizontal.  The  scarp  of  the 
range,  much  ravined,  looks  directly  upon  the  open  plains.  General  subaerial  erosion 
can  not  have  removed  the  forward  extension  of  the  strata  to  any  great  extent,  for 
erosion  has  as  yet  only  succeeded  in  battering  back  somewhat  the  steep  walls  of  the 
o-orge ;  hence  the  absence  of  the  strata  in  front  of  the  range  can  only  be  explained 
by  faulting.  It  should  be  noted  that  we  caught  a  glimpse,  while  we  were  still  on 
the  plains,  of  what  .seemed  to  be  steep  northea.st  dips  in  the  strata  of  the  front  scarp 
a  few  miles  northwest  of  the  gorge  ;  hence  the  faulted  monocline  may  there  assmne 
the  character  of  a  toin  anticline. 

The  treeless  hills  of  the  Firuza  syncline  revealed  their  structure  most  clearly. 
The  dip  of  the  .strata  was  distinctly  steeper  on  the  northeast  than  on  the  southwest 
side ;  the  lower  beds  were  grav  .shales,  on  which  subsequent  vallejs  were  opened ; 
the  upper  ones  brownish  sandstones,  which  rose  in  ridges.  The  total  thickness  was 
probabl)'  i ,  500  or  2,000  feet.  The  limestone  flanks  of  the  main  range  exhibited  many 
smooth  stnictural  slopes  of  moderate  dip,  green  with  vegetation,  and  deeply  gashed 
by  con.sequent  streams.  The  upper  Firuza  gorge  was  seen  as  a  deep  chasm,  which 
we  followed  through  the  next  day.  Its  stream  was  only  10  or  15  feet  wide,  but 
about  a  month  after  our  visit  we  heard  that  it  rose  in  a  destructive  flood  and  swept 
through  the  village,  doing  much  damage  to  the  houses  and  gardens. 

The  upper  gorge  is  as  fine  an  example  of  a  transverse  through-going  defile  as 
I  have  seen.  It  is  10  miles  long,  and  in  that  distance  the  valley  floor  rises  about 
2,500  feet.  For  the  first  half  of  the  way  there  is  a  narrow  flood  plain  between  pre- 
cipitous walls,  hundreds  of  feet  in  height ;  then  after  passing  a  strong  fault, 
expressed  by  local  defonnation  and  a  change  in  the  character  of  the  limestones,  the 
walls  are  less  steep  and  the  floor  is  more  encroached  upon  b}-  talus  and  fans.  The 
mountain  tops,  4,000  or  5,000  feet  above  the  stream,  could  not  be  seen.  As  the 
wagon  road  ended  at  Firuza,  our  further  progress  was  on  horseback  with  pack  train, 
and  thus  we  crossed  the  boundary  into  Persia.  We  met  a  few  men  in  the  gorge 
driving  donkeys  laden  with  fagots,  but  came  upon  no  habitations  till  we  reached 
the  open  longitudinal  consequent  valle>-  where  the  little  Persian  ^•illage  of  Serani 
is  situated  amid  green  irrigated  fields,  at  an  altitude  of  about  4,700  feet.  The  irri- 
gating stream  is  chiefly  supplied  from  a  large  spring  at  the  base  of  the  limestone 
range  on  the  soiithwest  side  of  the  valley.  The  stream  is  used  to  drive  a  primitive 
mill  near  its  source. 


THE    KOPET   DAGH. 


49 


THE   SERANI   VALLEY. 

The  Serani  Valley  is  worn  down  on  the  gray  shales  of  a  pinched  and  torn 
syncline,  between  the  broad  limestone  anticline  of  the  main  range  on  the  northeast 
and  the  torn  or  fanlted  anticline  of  the  Bnuzan  range  (8,922  feet)  on  the  sonthwest. 
The  shales  are  largely  removed  and  the  limestone  flanks  of  the  valley  are  shaqjly 
ravined  near  the  exit  gorge  ;  bnt  a  few  miles  to  the  northwest  we  saw  the  terraced 
remnants  of  a  higher  valle>-  floor  (fig.  27),  estimated  to  be  600  or  800  feet  over  the 
present  stream.  It  was  noted  that  the  limestone  flanks  of  the  mountains  sloped  by 
relati\-eh-  gentle  and  somewhat  graded  decli\-ity  to  these  terraces,  and  that  the 
flanks  descended  b\-  much  steeper  and  more  ragged  walls  to  the  floor  of  the  new 
valley  near  the  outlet  gorge,  where  the  terraces  had  been  largely  removed. 

When  the  high  terraces  of  the 
Serani  \'alley  are  considered  in  con- 
nection with  the  lower  ones  alread}' 
described  at  Firuza  and  at  the 
mouth  of  the  lower  gorge,  a  differ- 
ential uplift  of  the  region  is  sug- 
gested. Such  an  uplift  of  the  Serani 
Valley  with  respect  to  the  moinitain 
front  would  not  be  measured  simply 
by  the  height  of  the  \'alle}-  terraces. 


Fig.  27. — Terraces  in  ihe  Serani  Valley,  looking  northwest. 


Under  the  supposition  of  ui)lift,  the  slope  of 
the  stream  in  the  gorge  must  ha\-e  been  much  more  gradual  when  it  connected  the 
now  dissected  floors  of  the  earlier  Serani  and  Firuza  valleys  than  it  is  to-da}- ;  for  the 
earlier  valley  floor  must  have  approached  maturity,  as  is  shown  by  its  greater  width 
in  the  Firuza  syncline  and  by  the  more  nearh*  graded  slopes  of  the  limestone 
mountains  over  the  Serani  terraces,  while  the  present  valley  is  relatively  inunature, 
as  is  shown  by  its  narrowness  in  the  shales  of  the  Firuza  syncline  and  by  its  abru])t 
walls  and  its  land-slides  near  Serani ;  and  it  is  well  known  that  mature  valleys  in  a 
mountainous  district  must  have  a  much  more  gradual  slope  than  immature  valleys. 
It  is  therefore  reasonable  to  estimate  the  inferred  recent  axial  uplift  of  the  range  at 
1,000  feet  at  least;  indeed,  2,000  feet  does  not  seem  to  me  an  excessive  measure. 

On  following  the  Serani  Valley  to  the  southeast  on  the  morning  of  June  i, 
we  soon  passed  two  large  landslides  (see  fig.  26).  The  second  one  was  a  good  mile  in 
length,  with  irregular  mounds  and  hollows  strewn  with  huge  limestone  blocks. 
The  slides  seemed  to  ha\e  come  from  the  main  range  and  to  have  been  precipitated 
by  the  revival  of  valley  erosion,  whereby  the  basset  edges  of  the  limestones  on  the 
torn  slope  of  the  anticline  were  undennined.  Beyond  the  slides  the  valley  floor 
was  aggraded  for  a  mile  or  more,  and  the  stream  was  here  lost  in  its  own  deposits. 
At  about  6  miles  from  Serani  the  ^•alle\■  is  obstructed  by  a  broad  spur  of  shale, 
which  remains  there  because  the  stream  has  become  engaged  in  the  limestones  on 
the  flank  of  the  main  range,  in  which  it  has  cut  an  impassable  chasm.  The  trail 
climbed  the  shale  spur,  which  we  then  recognized  to  be,  like  the  terraces  at  the 
other  end  of  the  Serani  Valley,  a  remnant  of  an  old  wide-open  valley  floor,  400  or 
500  feet  above  the  present  stream.  The  chasm  by  which  the  stream  passes  around 
the  spur  is  therefore  to  be  regarded  as  a  result  of  a  local  wandering  of  the  stream 


50  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

to  the  northeast  side  of  its  former  valley  floor  before  the  revival  of  erosion ;  so 
that,  when  the  recent  downcnitting  began,  the  stream  became  superposed  on  the 
limestones,  from  which  it  has  not  yet  been  able  to  escape.  The  spur  gives  location 
to  a  cross-trail,  b}-  which  the  Persian  villagers  in  the  headwater  valle\s  of  the  Atrek 
system  traverse  both  the  limestone  anticlines  on  their  way  to  Askhabad. 

Leaving  our  pack  train  to  make  camp  on  the  stream  (altitude  about  6,ioo  feet) 
just  beyond  the  shale  spur,  Huntington  and  I,  with  one  of  our  jiggits,  followed  the 
cross-trail  to  a  high  pass  in  the  main  range,  and  then  climbed  on  foot  to  the  summit 
of  Chapan  (about  9,300  feet),  where  we  enjoyed  a  grand  view  in  all  directions. 
Riza,  the  highest  summit  of  the  region  (9,732  feet,  according  to  the  Russian  map), 
lay  a  mile  to  the  east — a  broad  dome,  in  which  the  limestones  were  nearly  hori- 
zontal, as  they  were  indeed  all  along  the  mountain  crest.  The  slope  toward  the 
Serani  Valley  was  moderately  dissected  ;  the  slope  toward  the  plains,  8,000  feet 
below  us  on  the  north,  was  deeply  gashed  with  enonnous  ravines.  Askhabad  was 
clearly  in  sight,  being  only  about  20  miles  distant ;  the  farther  plains  faded  away  in 
the  haze  of  the  lower  atmosphere.  It  was  diiScult  to  realize,  while  we  were  enjoy- 
ing the  fresh,  clear  air  of  the  mountain  top,  that  the  plains  were  still  as  hot  as  we  had 
found  them  a  few  days  before  in  the  glare  of  noon  on  the  railroad.  The  Firuza 
synclinal  basin  was  reviewed  ;  its  inclosing  monoclinal  range  was  seen  to  be  of 
moderate  length,  perhaps  20  or  30  miles ;  the  syncline  of  the  basin  was  tenninated 
on  the  west  by  a  great  anticlinal  dome,  on  whose  northeastern  flank  a  curious 
meandering  gorge  is  cut  in  the  slanting  limestone,  probably  another  case  of  struc- 
tural superposition.  The  view  southward  into  Persia  showed  a  broad  synclinal 
shale  basin  south  of  the  Buuzan  anticline,  and  several  other  limestone  anticlines, 
with  which  we  made  closer  acquaintance  on  the  following  day.  What  with  form 
and  color,  it  was  comparatively  easy  to  sketch  the  general  structure  for  miles  around. 

We  followed  the  Serani  stream  nearly  to  its  head  on  June  2.  A  second  chasm, 
due  to  stream  displacement,  was  passed  about  2  miles  above  the  first;  then  the 
valley  shallowed  rapidly,  and  soon  opened  in  a  broad  upland,  about  7,000  feet  in 
altitude,  which  we  may  call  the  Chibin  upland,  from  a  spring  that  is  noted  on  the 
map  at  its  southwestern  end,  and  here  we  came  upon  some  Kurds  in  their  summer 
camps.  On  the  south  rose  the  narrow  and  sharply  serrate  anticline  of  Giluli  peak 
(9,378  feet),  which  seems  to  open  and  blend  with  the  main  anticline  farther  south- 
east, and  which  soon  weakens  to  the  northwest,  leaving  a  broad  and  low  ridge 
between  it  and  the  Buuzan  anticline.  These  two  ranges  are  so  closely  in  line  that 
they  should  be  regarded  as  parts  of  a  single  upfolding,  the  variation  in  height  along 
the  line  being  probably  referable  to  differences  in  degree  and  sharpness  of  folding, 
and  perhaps  in  part  to  faulting. 

THE  SELSUPARALI    BASIN. 

Our  road  led  us  across  the  lowest  point  of  the  broad  ridge,  which  we 
approached  by  gentle  ascent  from  the  Chibin  upland  on  the  north;  but  its 
aspect  changed  when,  on  looking  down  its  .southern  slope,  we  found  there  a 
rapid  descent  of  1,000  or  1,500  feet  into  the  open  basin  of  the  broad  Selsuparali 
shale  syncline.     This  basin  is  drained  through  gorges  in  the   Isferanli  anticlinal 


EXCURSION    INTO    PERSIA. 


51 


range  b\-  headwaters  of  the  Atrek  wliich  finds  its  way  westward  through  the 
mountains  to  the  southern  Caspian.  On  account  of  the  lower  level  of  the  Persian 
than  of  the  Turkestan  drainage  system  at  this  point,  one  of  the  headwaters  of  the 
Atrek  system  is  actively  gnawing  its  way  through  the  escarpment  at  the  lowest 
part  of  the  divide  into  the  Chibin  upland  and  capturing  drainage  from  the 
headwaters  of  the  Serani  Valle\'. 


Fig.  28. — Two-mile  profile  of  Terraces  at  Namali,  looking  east. 

After  studying  the  view  from  the  crest  of  the  unsymmetrical  divide,  we 
descended  by  a  zig-zag  trail  and  hired  permission  to  camp  in  a  grassy  apricot 
orchard,  among  irrigated  fields  on  a  narrow  valley  floor  at  an  altitude  of  about  5,500 
feet.  Above  us  was  the  village  of  Namali,  a  cluster  of  mud  houses  on  the  end  of  au 
interfluve.  The  village  had  seemed  picturesque  enough  when  first  seen  from  the 
escarpment,  but  it  appeared  squalid  and  miserable  on  nearer  approach.  In  the 
afternoon  I  ascended  one  of  the  interfluves  for  a  review  of  the  district. 

Like  the  Serani  Valle\-,  the  Selsuparali  basin  shows  signs  of  re\-ived  erosion. 
The  mature  branching  streams  occup\'  vallej-s  200  or  300  feet  below  the  even- 
topped  interfluves,  whose  fairly  accordant  levels  indicate  pretty  clearly  that  the  weak 
shales  of  the  basin  had  been  reduced  to  a  peneplain  before  the  \-alleys  were  eroded. 
There  were,  furthermore,  faint  signs  of  earlier  cycles  of  erosion,  not  perceived  at 
Serani  or  Firuza,  and  hardly  worth  recording  here  but  for  their  confirmation  farther 
east  on  the  following  day. 
The  earliest  cycle  is  indicated 
by  the  round-shouldered  fonn 
of  the  Isferanli  and  Akh- 
kemar  limestone  anticlines 
on  the  south  and  southeast 
of  the  basin,  where  the  cur\-ed 
surface  over  the  crest  trun- 
cates the  strata,  as  if  with 
reference  to  a  baselevel  of  which  there  is  no  record  preser\'ed  in  the  less  resistant 
shales.  Certain  benches  on  the  mountain  flank  back  of  Namali  appear  to  be 
remnants  of  graded  spurs  at  an  intermediate  level.  Then  come  the  interfluves  and 
the  valleys  of  to-day,  as  shown  in  fig.  28. 

The  broad  synclinal  basin  of  Selsuparali,  between  the  Buuzan  and  the  Isfer- 
anli anticlines,  becomes  narrower  southeast  of  Namali,  where  the  closely  folded  and 
serrate  inclosing  ranges  may  be  named  the  Giluli  and  the  Akh-keniar,  after  their 
chief  peaks.     On  June  3  we  followed  the  longitiidinal  consequent  Namali  stream 


Fig.  23. — Two-mile  section  of  Synclinal  Valley,  southeast  of  Namali. 


52 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


to  its  head,  about  6  miles  distant.  While  crossing  the  headwater  col,  as  well  as 
while  descending  the  opposing  longitudinal  stream  of  Duruigar  Valley  southeast- 
ward, we  passed  a  number  of  Kurd  encampments.  The  valley  was  well  inclosed 
at  the  col  by  the  steep  mountain  walls,  where  great  triangular  sheets  of  limestone 
rose  between  successive  lateral  consequent  ravines.  The  floor  of  the  col,  smoothly 
worn  on  the  shales  of  the  \-alley  syncline  at  an  altitude  of  nearly  7,000  feet,  seemed 
to  belong  to  the  earlier  cycle  of  erosion;  the  opposing  longitudinal  streams  have 
intrenched  their  competing  valleys  so  as  to  leave  terraces  of  the  older  floor  on  either 
side,  as  in  fig.  29.  We  camped  on  the  further  stream,  about  10  miles  from  its 
head,  and  went  up  on  the  terraces  in  the  afternoon. 

THE   TERRACES   OF   DURUIGAR   VALLEY. 

Successive  cj'cles  or  impulses  of  valley  deepening  in  the  eastward  extension  of 
the  s)nclinal  valley  were  shown  here  more  clearly  than  near  Namali.  The  southern 
anticlinal  range,  now  called  the  Telli  Dagh,  showed  unmistakable  graded  slopes 
beveling  the  inclined  limestone  strata  far  up  toward  the  crest  of  the  range,  as  in 
fig.  30 ;  remnants  of  sloping  terraces  occurred  on  the  shales  at  less  altitude ;  then 
came  the  chief  terrace,  below  which  the  present  valley  floor  is  eroded  along  the  axis 


Fig.  30. — Two-mile  profile  of  Terraces  in  the  Duruigar  Valley,  loolung  east. 

of  the  shale  syncline.  The  period  in  which  the  upper  limestone  slopes  were  beveled 
and  graded  must  have  been  the  longest  of  those  here  shown ;  the  later  periods  pro- 
duced graded  slopes  onl)-  in  the  weak  shales.  It  may  be  noted,  however,  that,  by 
whatever  process  the  terraces  were  produced,  their  record  of  terracing  impulses  is 
probably  incomplete,  for  the  reason  that  each  long-lasting  period  of  wide-valley 
erosion  must  have  obliterated  the  work  of  earlier,  shorter  periods.  In  the  ideal 
case  of  eight  impulses  to  deeper  erosion  and  terracing,  shown  in  fig.  31,  the  records  of 
only  three  are  preserved  to-day.  In  such  cases  it  is  only  the  successively  smaller  and 
smaller  maxima  of  the  whole  series  of  impulses  that  make  themselves  known,  as  is 
well  shown  in  the  beach  lines  made  by  successive  storms  of  decreasing  intensity ; 
for  example,  in  the  so-called  "curbs"  of  tile  great  Chesil  bank  of  southern  England. 
The  four  valley  floors  in  the  Kopet  Dagh  must  not,  therefore,  be  taken  to  imply  that 
there  have  been  only  four  periods  of  renewed  erosion ;  there  may  have  been  many 
more. 

It  is  difficult  to  detennine  the  cause  of  the  terraces  by  which  the  ^•alle^•s  in  the 
Kopet  Dagh  are  ornamented.  Terraces  may  result  from  certain  changes  of  climate  on 
a  stationarj'  land  mass  ;  or  from  uplifts  of  the  land  in  an  unchanged  climate  ;  or  from 


TERRACED  VALLEYS. 


53 


Fig.  3 1 . — Scheme  of  Terrace  Development. 


the  interaction  of  these  two  causes.  The  slope  that  would  lead,  in  the  present  altitude 
of  the  mountains,  from  the  high-level  floor  of  the  Serani  Valley  through  the  former 
floor  of  the  Firuza  gorge  to  the  plains,  seems  rather  steep  for  a  graded  valley,  its 
fill  being  about  4,000  feet  in  20  miles ;  yet  it  does  not  seem  impossible  that  under  a 
climate  even  drier  than  that  of  to-day  such  a  grade  might  have  been  developed  and 
maintained  by  a  stream  of  small  volume  and  abundant  load,  after  which  a  moister 
climate  would  pennit  \alley  erosion  to  a  greater  depth.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is 
manifest  that  uplifts  of  the  mountain  mass,  whereby  the  streams  were  periodically 
accelerated,  would  result  in  terraces  of  a  depth 
proportionate  to  the  amount  of  uplift,  and  of  a 
breadth  proportionate  to  the  interval  of  time 
between  uplifts.  The  choice  between  these  two 
possible  explanations  is  not  advisedly  made  by 
following  a  preference  for  one  or  the  other,  but 
rather  by  means  of  some  crHx\,  which  contra- 
dicts one  explanation  and  supports  the  other.  This  crux  may  perhaps  be  found  on 
further  exploration,  if  the  terraced  valleys  are  found  to  interlock  in  such  fashion 
that  no  simple  movement  of  uplift  could  ha\-e  accelerated  all  the  terracing  streams, 
as  is  believed  by  Mr.  Huntington  to  be  the  case  for  the  Tian  Shan  valleys.  Our 
few  days  in  the  Kopet  Dagh  did  not  enable  us  to  apply  this  test  there. 

We  continued  southeastward  on  June  4  along  the  Duruigar  \"alle^•.  It  soon 
widened ;  the  Telli  Dagh,  on  the  south,  becoming  a  broad  anticline  with  moderate 
dips,  and  the  Kara  Ilikhi,  as  the  continuation  of  the  Giluli  range  is  called,  on  the 
north,  seeming  to  be  cut  oflf  b>-  faults.  In  the  wide  \-alle\-  thus  fonned  the  shales 
have  been  broadh-  planed  and  covered  with  from  50  to  150  feet  of  gravel  in  con- 
tinuation with  the  chief  terrace  seen  on  the  preceding  afternoon.  A  patch  of  higher 
terrace,  associated  with  a  beveled  limestone  slope  behind  it,  was  seen  on  the  side  of 
the  Kara  Ilikhi  range.  The  modem  xalley  is  cut  about  300  feet  beneath  the  main 
terrace,  and  here  has  gained  a  width  of  half  a  mile  at  an  altitude  of  about  4,800  feet. 

Leaving  the  valle\-,  we  crossed  the  gravelly  terrace  plain  eastward,  and  after 
about  3  miles  descended  to  the  Russian  frontier  post,  Gaudan  (about  4,440  feet 
altitude),  on  the  great  Meshed-Askhabad  road,  which  had  crossed  the  terrace  plain 
somewhat  to  the  southeast  of  our  trail.  The  main  anticline  of  the  Kopet  Dagh 
here  breaks  down  in  some  manner,  but  is  soon  replaced  by  the  Suru-nuizdar 
anticline,  an  open  but  crooked  vallej-  separating  the  two.  The  bend  of  this  \alle\- 
into  the  vSuru-muzdar  anticline  seemed  to  give  opportunity  of  seeing  the  basal 
members  of  the  heavy  mountain-making  limestones,  but  we  had  no  time  to  leave 
the  road  to  search  for  them.  The  head  of  the  valley  is  gnawing  southward  into 
the  broad,  gra\el-covered  terrace.  The  road  follows  northward  along  the  valley, 
which  is  manifestly  enough  guided  by  an  oblique  fault  as  it  opens  on  the  plains  ; 
for  here  we  had  the  eastern  dips  of  the  heavy  limestones  overlaid  with  the  shales 
of  the  main  anticline  on  our  left,  and  a  bold  scarp  of  the  same  limestones  in  the 
obliquely  breached  Suru-muzdar  anticline  on  our  right.  Farther  on  the  shales  were 
be\eled  in  smooth,  graded  slopes,   co\-ered  with    100  or  200  feet  of  cobbles  and 


54  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

gravels,  and  now  dissected  b}-  the  re\i\ed  streams  in  ravines  from  300  to  500  feet 
deep  near  the  mountain  base,  but  shallowing  as  the  graded  slopes  descended  to  the 
plains.  The  return  along  the  road  from  the  frontier  to  Askhabad,  some  30  miles, 
we  covered  rapidly  in  carriages. 

The  net  results  of  the  excursion  into  the  Kopet  Dagh,  in  so  far  as  they  bear 
on  the  work  of  the  expedition,  are  as  follows:  A  series  of  changing  conditions 
has  prompted  the  streams  to  tenace  their  \-alleys  at  se\'eral  le\'els.  The  sticcessi\'e 
changes  in  the  beha\-ior  of  the  streams  indicated  by  the  terraces  ha\e  probably  had 
some  recognizable  effect  in  changing  the  character  of  the  piedmont  deposits ;  the 
latter  changes  may  possibly  be  recognized  b)'  borings  and  may  then  be  correlated 
with  the  changes  in  the  mountain  valleys.  It  is  ven,-  probable  that  terraces  similar 
to  the  ones  that  we  saw  occur  in  other  parts  of  the  range.  If  the  valleys  were 
examined  at  intervals  of  30  or  40  miles  all  around  the  border  of  the  plains  on  the 
south  and  east,  it  might  be  possible  to  connect  the  dates  of  the  several  terraces  on 
the  west  with  the  history  of  the  Quaternary  Aralo-Caspian  Sea,  and  on  the  east 
with  the  glacial  records  of  the  more  lofty  ranges.  Thus  successive  piedmont 
deposits  could  be  dated.  It  is  evident,  however,  that  there  are  many  difficulties  in 
the  solution  of  such  a  ])roblem,  and  that  much  time  and  patience  would  be  required 
before  a  solution  could  be  reached.  Yet  in  no  other  way  does  it  seem  possible  to 
decipher  the  recent  history  of  the  piedmont  fluviatile  deposits. 

THE    DESERT   PLAINS. 

The  railroad  journey  across  the  desert  plains  from  Askhabad  to  Samarkand 
with  three  days  stop  at  Old  Merv,  was  extremely  interesting,  even  if  monotonous. 
The  surface  was  absolutely  plain  to  the  eye,  except  for  the  dunes,  and  the  dunes 
departed  from  the  plain  only  as  \vind-wa\-es  at  sea  depart  from  a  calm  surface. 
Although  apparently  level,  the  plain  has  slope  enough  to  give  the  Tejen,  the 
Murg-ab,  and  the  Amu  rapid  currents,  in  which  these  rivers  carry  forward  a  great 
volume  of  mountain  waste.  Mushketof  (1891)  describes  this  part  of  the  plain  as  of 
fluviatile  origin.  Obruchef  does  the  same,  adding  that  the  thickness  of  the  river- 
laid  layers  is  only  several  fathoms  (1887  ;  1890,  247).  The  rivers  have  great  varia- 
tion of  \olume.  The  population  of  Mer\-,  depending  entirely  on  the  Murg-ab  for 
irrigation,  had  crops  abundant  enough  in  1891  to  export  some  of  the  surplus  to 
Russia;  and  in  1892  had  but  little  more  than  half  the  ordinary  yield  (Tarnovski, 
1895).  We  were  fortunate  enough  to  see  the  Tejen  and  the  ]\Iurg-ab  in  flood. 
The  former  had  overflowed  its  channel  and  spread  in  a  thin  sheet  for  miles  over  the 
plain.  The  latter  would  have  spread  but  for  the  restraint  of  dikes  at  IVIerv.  Some 
of  its  waters  had  escaped  further  upstream  and  came  to  the  railroad,  wandering 
across  the  plain  among  the  dunes,  a  curious  combination  of  too  much  and  too 
little  water  supply.  The  rivers  had  been  still  higher  a  few  weeks  before  our  arrival, 
and  the  Tejen  bridge  had  been  carried  away,  as  well  as  some  of  the  track  on  the 
plain  west  of  Merv,  causing  great  delay  to  traffic  and  especialh-  to  freight  transport. 
By  the  time  of  our  arrival,  June  10,  a  temporary  foot-bridge  had  been  built  across 


THE   DESERT    PLAINS.  55 

the  Tejen,  and  the  track  elsewhere  was  relaid  sufficiently  to  allow  trains  to  cross 
the  breaks  at  low  speed.  An  engine  that  had  approached  the  flooded  Tejen  too 
closely  was  seen  mired  in  the  softened  mud  of  the  plain ;  the  track  had  collapsed 
under  it. 

THE   .\GGRADING   RIVERS   OF   THE   PL.\INS. 

The  most  notable  feature  of  this  district  was  the  absence  of  valleys.  The 
rivers  have  channels  in  which  their  waters  are  usuall}-  restrained,  but  there  were  no 
valleys  in  which  the  river  floods  were  limited.  The  plains  were  open  to  overflow 
as  far  as  flood  supply  held  out.  We  were  told,  however,  that  some  distance 
upstream  (to  the  south)  the  IVIurg-ab  has  a  flood-plain  slightly  depressed  beneath 
the  plain.  This  we  interpreted  as  meaning  that  the  river  had  there  changed  its 
habit  from  aggrading  to  degrading.  On  crossing  the  Amu  at  Charjui  we  saw 
a  low  bluff  on  the  north  or  right  of  its  course,  although  on  the  south  the  plain  is 
not  significantly  above  the  river. 

The  general  absence  of  valle>s  is  a  natural,  indeed  an  essential,  feature  of  a 
fluviatile  plain  in  process  of  aggradation  by  flood  deposits.  It  is  peculiarly  appro- 
priate to  rivers  like  the  Tejen  and  Murg-ab,  which  dwindle  away  and  end  on  the 
plain,  so  that  even-  grain  of  sand  and  even,-  particle  of  silt  must  be  laid  down  as 
the  water  volume  lessens  and  disappears.  The  absence  of  \-alleys  would,  on  the 
other  hand,  be  surprising  in  a  lacustrine  or  a  marine  plain,  for  the  reason  that 
coincidence  could  hardly  be  expected  between  the  slope  that  might  be  given  to  such 
a  plain  when  it  is  laid  bare  and  the  slope  that  is  satisfactory-  to  the  graded  rivers 
that  run  across  it.  It  is  not,  however,  as  has  already  been  pointed  out,  always  the 
case  that  fluviatile  plains  have  no  valleys  eroded  beneath  their  general  level.  The 
river-made  plains  of  northern  India  are  now  commonly  somewhat  trenched  by  their 
rivers.  Our  Great  Plains,  piedmont  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  are  likewise  in  pro- 
cess of  dissection  b>-  their  rivers.  The  plains  of  Turkestan  are  therefore  somewhat 
exceptional  in  this  respect.  As  a  result  we  had  unfortunately  no  opportunity  of 
seeing  sections  of  the  plains  in  which  the  structure  of  the  deposits  could  be  examined. 
A  well  on  the  Czar's  estate  at  Bairam  Ali,  a  modern  \-illage  near  Old  ]\Ier\-,  where 
we  were  most  agreeably  entertained  by  the  superintendent,  Mr.  Dubassof,  was  said 
to  have  shown  nothing  but  "  .sand  and  loess."  The  desert  and  river  deposits  found 
by  borings  beneath  the  Anui  River  bed  at  Charjui  have  already  been  noted.  The 
inspection  of  these  vast  plains  of  silt  was  very  suggestive  in  connection  with  the 
problematic  origin  of  the  fresh-water  Tertiary  fonnations  of  the  western  United 
States.  Certainly  no  one  who  sees  the  river-made  area  of  the  plains  of  Turkestan 
can  doubt  the  capacity  of  rivers  to  lay  down  extensive  fine-textured  deposits. 

The  ruins  of  old  IMer\'  are  situated  on  the  fluviatile  plain,  where  large  canals 
must  have  once  led  a  plentiful  water-supply  from  the  upper  Murg-ab.  They  lie  some 
1 2  miles  east  of  the  oasis  of  modem  ]\Ier\-,  in  which  the  greater  part  of  the  river  is 
now  used  for  irrigation.  It  is  therefore  especially  desirable  to  make  careful  exam- 
ination of  the  earliest  of  the  ruins  with  respect  to  the  level  of  their  foundation  and 
its  relation  to  the  surface  of  the  surrounding  plain.  Some  of  the  ruins  are  only  a 
few  centuries  old ;  the  cities  that  they  represent  are  known  to  history.     Others  have 


56 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


the  appearance  of  much  greater  age,  being  more  completely  decayed.  The  largest 
of  these,  Gliainr  Kala  (fig.  32),  a  group  of  huge  mounds  within  a  degraded  wall, 
must  have  had  a  beginning  very  long  ago.  The  relation  of  its  earliest,  deepest-lying 
artifacts  to  the  strata  of  the  plain  deserves  the  closest  scrutiny. 

As  no  sections  could  be  found,  it  is  impossible  to  say  whether  any  subdivisions 
can  be  established  in  the  fluviatile  deposits  of  the  plains.  The  best  means  of  deter- 
mining this  point  would  be  by  the  aid  of  a  soil  auger,  the  use  of  which  is  to  be 
recommended.  As  an  encouragement  to  study  of  this  kind,  it  should  be  remem- 
bered that  graded  rivers,  like  those  of  these  desert  plains,  are   in  a  ver^'  delicate 


Fig.  32. — The  Central  Mound  o(  Ghaiur  Kala.  from  60  to  80  feel  high,  in  Old  Merv,  looking  north. 


adjustment,  and  that  a  change  of  climate  or  a  change  in  the  altitude  of  their  head- 
waters should  e.xpectably  produce  a  change  in  their  regime.  During  a  moister  or 
cooler  climatic  period  these  withering  ri\'ers  must  have  been  longer  than  they  now 
are ;  indeed,  they  would  probably  be  longer  than  they  are  to-day  if  their  waters  were 
not  distributed  over  the  fields  of  the  oases.  There  is  good  reason  for  believing,  as 
various  observers  have  suggested,  that  the  Zerafshan  would  now  reach  the  Amu 
but  for  its  use  on  the  fields  of  Samarkand  and  Bokhara.  But  whether  the  climate 
of  the  region  has  been  moist  or  cool  enough  in  Quaternary  time  to  extend  the 
Murg-ab  and  the  Tejen  so  that  they  might  join  the  Amu,  as  has  been  suggested, 
has  not  yet  been  proved. 


BARKHANS   OF   THE    KARA-KUM. 


57 


The  right-handed  shifting  and  bhiff-cutting  of  the  Amu,  as  a  result  of  which 
the  admirably  irrigated  and  fertile  oasis  of  Charjui  is  on  its  left  side,  has  been  taken 
as  an  illustration  of  the  deflective  force  of  the  earth's  rotation  (cf  Walther,  6r,  114)- 
but  it  is  still  questionable  whether  this  small  force  is  sufficient  to  produce  the  results 
that  are  ascribed  to  it.  The  doubt  on  this  point  has  greatly  increased  in  my  mind  by 
reason  of  the  measured  deflection  of  the  Mississippi,  as  detennined  recently  by  one 
of  my  students  from  the  maps  published  by  the  Mississippi  River  Commission,  he- 
iii&  greater  on  the  east  (left)  than  on  the  west  (right)  in  a  period  of  twelve  years. 
In  any  case,  the  bluff"-cutting  by  the  Amu  must  be  determined  by  some  other  cause 


Fig.  33. —  Sand  Dunes  south  of  Charjui,  looking  northwest. 

besides  the  earth's  rotation,  inasmuch  as  it  involves  not  mereh-  a  right-handed 
shifting,  but  a  degrading  action  at  the  same  time;  and  degradation  by  such  a 
ri\er  implies  some  alteration  in  individual  regime,  such  as  climatic  change  or  crustal 
mo\ement  would  produce. 

The  railroad  crosses  a  tract  of  typical  crescentic  dunes  (barkhans)  before  reach- 
ing the  oasis  of  Chaijui  on  the  Amu.  Some  areas  had  scattered  bushes  among  the 
sands;  others  were  essentially  without  vegetation,  and  there  the  dunes  were  at  their 
best  (fig.  7,2,).  They  were  under  the  influence  of  northerly  winds,  for  their  longer 
slopes  were  to  the  north,  and  their  steep  scarps  and  lateral  horns  were  to  the  south. 
According  to  Russian  obsen,ers,  the  fonn  of  the  barkhans  has  a  seasonal  variation, 
following  the  change  in  the  prevailing  winds.  Besides  the  seasonal  variation  of 
dune  fonn,  there  appears  to  be  a  secular  extension  of  the  dune-covered  area,  in  some 
places  averaging  20  feet  a  year  (Walther,  1900,  119). 


58  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

The  dune-co\-ered  area  was  abrupt!)-  cut  off  as  we  eutered  the  irrigated  fields 
of  Charjui  ou  the  plain  bordering  the  Amu  on  the  south.  The  fields  of  the  gently 
sloping  plain  are  delicately  graded  to  level  surfaces,  each  fed  by  a  little  canal  and 
bordered  by  a  little  dike  next  to  its  lower  neighbor.  The  canals  are  divided  and 
subdivided,  like  nerve  endings,  the  smallest  ones  being  hardly  noticeable.  Many 
of  them  are  bordered  with  trees.  The  houses  and  the  walls  of  inclosed  gardens  are 
of  gray,  sun-dried  mud.  There  are  no  fences  between  the  fields  ;  hence  horses  and 
cattle  are  tended  or  tethered  while  pasturing.  Grain,  lucern,  and  cotton  were  the 
principal  crops  noted.  The  change  from  the  desolate  sands  to  this  thriving  oasis 
was  a  beautiful  example  of  the  beneficent  work  of  irrigation  in  the  desert. 

LOESS  DEPOSITS. 

It  was  suggested  by  Professor  Penck,  during  our  conference  with  him  at 
Vienna  on  the  outward  journey,  that  special  attention  should  be  given  to  deposits 
of  loess,  in  order  to  detennine  in  how  far  they  are  now  in  process  of  accumula- 
tion, or  in  how  far  they  should  be  referred  to  .some  period  of  past  time.  This 
problem  was  made  the  more  interesting  by  seeing  at  Krems,  on  the  Danube,  above 
Vienna,  a  well-defined  deposit  of  loess  from  which  some  15,000  artifacts  have  been 
gathered  by  the  patient  work  of  Dr.  Strobl.  Some  specimens  of  rudely  chipped 
flints  were  kindly  given  to  us  to  serve  as  samples  of  things  to  be  searched  for  in 
the  loess  of  Turkestan.  Our  hurried  movements  made  it  impossible  to  undertake 
any  such  search,  or  indeed  to  make  any  close  examination  of  loess-covered  areas  ; 
but  we  passed  certain  loess  deposits  regarding  which  our  observations,  even  though 
made  only  from  train  windows  or  from  post-wagon,  seem  worth  placing  on  record. 

LOESS   NEAR   SAMARKAND. 

On  approaching  Samarkand,  June  15,  the  railroad  crosses  an  extensive  deposit 
of  loess,  at  once  seen  to  be  unlike  the  gravelly  piedmont  slopes  near  Bokhara, 
and  equally  xinlike  the  sea  of  sand-dunes  on  the  plain  south  of  the  Amu,  but  not 
easily  distinguishable  in  a  passing  view  from  the  fine  silts  of  the  Murg-ab  and 
the  Tcjen  plains,  e.Kcept  that  the  surface  of  the  deposit  here  was  not  level,  but 
broadly  undulating  and  sub-maturely  dissected.  A  30-foot  cut,  where  the  railroad 
made  its  way  between  opposite  valley  heads,  was  unfortunately  passed  in  the  twi- 
light. At  Samarkand  a  deep  valley  is  cut  in  loess,  well  seen  a  short  distance 
east  of  the  railroad  station.  A  few  miles  farther  on,  near  the  ridge  across  the 
Zerafshan,  the  hill  slopes  are  cloaked  with  loess,  on  which  a  thin  cover  of  angular 
waste  has  crept  down.  All  these  deposits,  therefore,  seem  to  be  and  to  have 
long  been  in  process  of  dissection  rather  than  of  accumulation.  It  occurred  to 
me  that  even  if  other  conditions  were  now  favorable  for  the  accumulation  of  loess 
in  this  district,  the  irrigation  and  cultivation  of  the  Zerafshan  flood  plain  is 
distinctly  unfavorable  to  its  accumulation ;  for  the  cultivation  of  crops  and,  perhaps 
even  to  a  greater  extent,  the  growth  of  trees,  lifts  the  wind  from  the  ground, 
and  thus  greatly  diminishes  the  amount  of  fine  silt  that  can  be  carried  from  the 
flood  plain  and  deposited  elsewhere.     In  the  absence  of  cultivation  the  flood  plain 


LOESS    NEAR   JIZAK. 


59 


would  be  relatively  barren  and  the  finer  material  would  be  blown  from  it  with 
relative  ease.  It  is  here  assumed  that  the  loess  is  not  chiefly  supplied  from  the 
products  of  weathering  on  uplands  and  mountains,  where  the  finer  soil  has  less 
lime  than  loess  contains,  but  that  it  comes  in  greater  part  from  flood  plains,  where 
the  finer  silt,  largely  produced  by  the  mechanical  attrition  of  cobbles  and  gravels, 
may  be  highly'  calcareous,  as  has  been  pointed  out  by  Penck. 

LOESS   NEAR  JIZAK. 

A  loess  deposit  of  unusual  interest  was  seen  on  June  17  on  the  uplands 
north  of  the  Zerafshan,  where  the  railroad  contours  around  the  eastern  spurs 
of  a  detached  part  of  the  Turkestan  range,  west  of  the  valley  of  the  Sankar.  The 
Sankar  follows  a  valley  that  is  rather  sharply  cut  down  in  an  upland  or  local  pene- 
plain. The  upland  and  the  loess  upon  it  are  briefly  described  by  IMushketof 
(1886,  355).  The  valley  is  about  100  feet  deep  where  the  railroad  enters  it,  but  the 
depth    increases  to  300  or  400  feet  farther  north,  where  it  opens  on   the  broad 


Fig.  34. — Diagram  of  Railroad  Cut,  south  of  Jizak. 

Hunger  (Golodnaia)  steppe  near  the  town  of  Jizak.  The  valley  floor  is  usually 
about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  wide ;  it  narrows  where  a  belt  of  harder  rocks  forms 
"Timur's  Gate."  The  valley  sides  are  graded,  except  for  the  outcrops  of  the  most 
resistant  ledges.  The  upland  or  peneplain,  where  it  is  preser\-ed  on  the  spurs 
between  the  numerous  side  valleys,  truncates  the  disturbed  rocks  of  the  district 
ver>'  evenly.  The  side  vallejs  that  dissect  it  are  fairly  well  open  and  graded  far  up 
the  mountain  slopes  on  the  west.  Kurgans  (mounds)  occur  in  some  of  these 
valleys.  As  the  steppe  is  approached,  the  side  valle)s  increase  in  depth  and  width, 
and  the  even  upland  of  the  spurs  is  replaced  b)-  maturely  rounded  hills.  Then  the 
steppe  suddenly  opens,  as  if  the  upland  were  terminated  by  a  fault  or  sharp  bend; 
for  if  the  level  of  the  upland  were  prolonged  northward  it  would  run  out  into  the 
air,  far  above  the  present  plain.  Its  even  profile  was  well  seen  by  looking  back 
from  the  train  after  we  had  run  some  miles  out  on  the  plain.  The  main  and  branch 
vallej-s  of  the  Sankar  must  have  been  eroded  after  the  faulting  and  uplift  of  the 
district  with  respect  to  the  steppe. 

The  railroad  must  be  man}'  hundred  feet  abov'e  the  main  valley  where  it  crosses 
the  divide  between  the  Zerafshan  and  the  Sankar ;  it  descends  to  the  Sankar  across 
many  of  the  spurs  and  side  valleys,  cutting  the  first  and  filling  the  second.  Our 
train  ran  at  moderate  speed  and  we  had  a  good  sight  of  the  cuts,  whose  fresh  walls 
disclosed  sections  that  are  generalized  in  fig.  34.  A  somewhat  uneven  rock  floor 
was  cloaked  with  loess  to  a  thickness  of  10  or  15  feet.    The  loess  contained  sharply 


6o  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

irregular  partings,  carrying  a  thin  deposit  of  angular  stony  waste ;  it  also  showed 
faint  color  bands,  nearly  horizontal,  which  were  distinctly  cut  b)-  the  slopes  of  the 
spur  sides ;  hence  the  valleys  were  regarded  as  younger  than  the  loess.  If  this 
interpretation  be  correct,  there  is  reason  for  thinking  that  the  loess  of  the  spurs  is 
older  than  the  uplift  on  the  north-bounding  fault,  by  which  tlie  revival  of  valley 
erosion  was  prompted.  Evidently,  then,  this  loess  deposit  ceased  accumulating 
long  ago,  and  has  since  then  been  much  eroded.  The  fine  loess-like  deposit  of  the 
southern  part  of  the  Hunger  steppe  is  colored  as  river-wash  on  Muhsketof's  map. 
Its  surface  is  gently  rolling,  and  the  railroad  cuts  in  the  swells  repeatedly  show  its 
fine,  unifonn  texture.  Near  the  mountains  on  the  south  it  is  traversed  by  the  flat- 
floored  valleys  of  dwindling  streams,  where  we  saw  many  cattle  pasturing. 

The  uplands  and  loess-capped  spurs  over  the  Sankar  Valley,  and  their  relation 
to  the  Hunger  steppe,  impressed  me  as  particularly  well  worth  a  closer  stud)'. 

A  considerable  area  of  dissected  loess  was  passed  after  the  railroad  had  crossed 
the  Syr  on  the  way  to  Tashkent.  Like  the  other  deposits,  this  showed  every  sign 
of  having  long  submitted  to  normal  erosion.  Where  the  S}t  swung  against  it 
there  are  vertical  bluffs  lOO  feet  or  more  in  height. 

LOESS   IN   FERGANA. 

The  interesting  ride  through  the  Fergana  basin,  from  Chernyayevo  junction, 
on  the  main  line,  eastward  to  the  end  of  the  branch  line  at  Andizhan,  deser\-es 
mention  in  this  connection,  from  the  striking  suggestion  that  it  gave  of  the 
conditions,  fiivorable  and  unfavorable,  for  the  supply  of  loess  from  rivers.  At 
various  points,  as  near  Posieto\ka,  Kokan,  and  Andizhan,  there  were  extensive 
plains  of  gravel,  washed,  from  time  to  time,  by  the  flooded  streams  from  the 
mountains  on  the  south.  The  plains  were  usually  barren  and  open  to  the  action  of 
the  wind.  Dunes  were  sometimes  seen  upon  them.  Such  surfaces  might  afford 
much  silt  fine  enough  for  carriage  by  the  winds,  after  the  floods  that  bring  the  silt 
subside.  Neighboring  areas  of  fine  soil  were  irrigated  and  seemed  richly  productive 
with  crops  of  cotton,  wheat,  rice,  and  lucern,  with  vines  and  fruit  trees,  and  many 
rows  of  poplars.  Much  silk  is  produced  here.  It  is  woven  in  se\eral  of  the  cities. 
Many  cases  of  cocoons  are  sent  to  France.  The  silt  is  deposited  in  the  fields  by  the 
turbid  irrigating  streams,  as  well  as  by  the  winds,  and  is  protected  from  the  winds 
by  the  trees  and  smaller  plants.  There  can  be  little  question  that  the  occupation 
of  this  basin  for  many  centuries  past  has  caused  a  considerable  deposit  of  silt  on  the 
cultivated  areas  and  held  it  from  being  swept  away  to  the  uplands  by  the  winds. 
If  the  water  were  not  led  about  in  canals  and  spread  out  on  delicately  terraced  fields 
it  would  nm  wild,  and  much  of  the  silt  that  is  now  detained  under  plant  protection 
would  be  more  open  to  wind  transportation  from  the  torrent  flood  plains.  Culti- 
vation thus  seems  to  be  distinctly  favorable  to  the  deposition  of  stream-borne  silt  on 
the  valley  plains  and  unfavorable  to  the  deposition  of  wind-borne  loess  on  the  neigh- 
boring uplands. 


LOESS    IN    FERGANA.  6 1 

There  is,  however,  another  condition  that  is  even  more  adverse  to  the  suppl)- 
of  wind-borne  silts.  This  is  found  where  the  streams  have  incised  their  courses  in 
narrow  gorges  instead  of  broadly  spreading  their  floods  over  torrential  fans;  that 
is,  where  the  streams  are  engaged  in  degrading  instead  of  aggrading  their  beds.  We 
crossed  a  degrading  stream  about  7  miles  west  of  Khojent.  It  had  for  some 
reason  cut  a  sharp  and  deep  trench  in  the  plain,  so  that  it  was  not  seen  until  we 
were  close  upon  it.  There  was  no  possibility  of  its  overflowing  the  plain,  and  so  all 
its  silt  was  washed  along  its  channel.  The  sprawling  and  shifting  streams  else- 
where seen  on  the  fans  were  in  most  marked  contrast  to  this  secretive  river.  Hence, 
in  so  far  as  loess  is  derived  from  rivers,  there  can  be  little  question  that  it  comes 
from  aggrading  rather  than  from  degrading  streams ;  and  this  conclusion  seems  to 
be  applicable  to  the  loess  of  the  Alpine  region,  as  described  by  Penck,  and  to  that 
of  the  Mississippi  basin,  as  described  by  Shimek  and  others,  as  well  as  to  that  of 
Turkestan. 

The  ride  through  Fergana  was  most  entertaining  from  its  variety.  The  great 
snowy  ranges  of  the  Alai  rose  in  the  south.  Their  Alpine  crests  and  snow  fields 
were  brilliantly  clear  in  the  early  morning.  By  noon  they  were  much  hidden  under 
diurnal  cumulus  clouds.  We  could  see,  with  our  field  glasses,  man)-  features  of  gla- 
cial origin,  further  described  below.  Northeast  of  Khojent  was  an  e.xcelleut  exam- 
ple of  one  of  those  sharply  dissected  ranges  at  whose  base  a  series  of  digitate  spurs 
interlock  with  branching  valley  floors,  so  as  to  make  a  most  sinuous  base  line,  in 
strong  contrast  to  mountain  ranges  of  simple  border,  like  the  range  south  of  Jizak. 
The  latter  seems  to  belong  to  the  class  of  somewhat  dissected  fault  blocks;  the 
former,  if  it  ever  had  a  faulted  front,  has  lost  all  signs  of  it.  South  of  Maxrani  rose 
a  high  dissected  dome  of  apparently  crystalline  core,  wrapped  around  by  colored 
sedimentaries — first,  a  dark  belt  that  lapped  on  the  flanks  of  the  dome,  then  a  weak 
gray  belt;  then  more  resistant  red  beds.  The  colored  belts  are  nmch  narrowed 
as  they  curve  around  the  northern  base  of  the  dome  from  east  and  west,  as  if  they 
were  torn  by  marginal  faulting  or  tilted  to  steep  dips.  Dissected  fans  stand  forth 
from  the  larger  ravines  of  the  dome;  younger  and  smoother  fans  are  built  at 
their  base ;  then  come  the  gravelly  flood  plains  of  the  streams,  with  many  dunes 
heaped  on  them.  Near  Marghilan  we  passed  benches  of  uplifted  gra\-els,  probably 
corresponding  to  the  uplifted  and  dissected  sub-recent  ridges  that  we  saw  a  few 
days  later  on  a  ride  south  of  Andizhan.  Here  the  strata  dipped  10°  or  15°  north- 
ward, and  fine  gray  silts  alternated  with  coarse  gravels.  Similar  alternations  of 
gravels  and  loess-like  silts  were  seen  in  the  borders  of  the  Kugart  \'alle>',  where  we 
entered  the  Tian  Shan  ranges  on  June  30. 

LOESS   IN   SEMIRVETSHEKSK. 

Much  loess  was  seen  on  the  steppe  west  of  Vyernyi  at  the  northern  base  of 
the  Trans-Ili  Ala-tau  ;  it  seemed  less  dissected  than  the  deposits  west  of  Samar- 
kand and  south  of  Tashkent.  More  remarkable  deposits  of  loess  were  seen  while 
posting  across  Semiryetshensk — the  Seven-river  district — from  \'yemyi  northward 


62  EXPLORATIONS   IN    TURKESTAN. 

to  Seuiipalatinsk,  July  28  to  August  2,  in  several  headwater  valleys  of  the  Karatal, 
a  river  that  flows  into  the  mid-southern  side  of  Lake  Balkash  from  the  western 
spurs  of  the  Cis-Ili  Ala-tau.  Near  the  village  of  Kugalinsk  (see  sheet  12  of  the 
40-verst  Russian  map),  the  northwest  slopes  of  the  Chulak  range  were  cloaked 
with  grassy  loess  and  somewhat  dissected 
by  small  consequent  valleys,  across  which 
the  road  had  many  ups  and  downs.  On 
the  ridge  between   Kugalinsk  and    Tzarat- 

zinsk   the   slopes    are    strewn     with    irregular      pig.  35.— Diagram  of  Loess  Drids.  near  Kara-bulak. 

mounds  of  loess  of  small  relief,  in  which  looking  south. 

the  roadside  cuts  were  creamy  white.     The 

surface  was  well  covered  with  grass ;   hay  had  been  cut  in  places.     On  the  ne.xt 

ridge,  which  divides  the  Kok  from  one  of  its  branches,  there  was  a  curious  mixture 

of  fresh  and  hackly  ledges  and  smooth  mounds  of  loess,  in  which  some  road-cuts 

were  10  feet  deep.     The  mounds  seemed  to  have  a  trend  from  the  northwest  or 

west-northwest,  and  occurred  up  to  altitudes  of  4,000  or  4,500  feet. 

The  valley  of  the  Kusak,  near  Kara-bulak  village,  afforded  the  most  significant 
features,  for  here  the  drifted  form  of  the  loess  became  verj'  pronounced.  The  vallc)- 
floor,  at  an  altitude  of  about  2,800  feet,  very  smooth  and  about  a  mile  wide,  opens 
westward  between  long  spurs  descending  from  the  range  on  the  east.  The  stream 
has  cut  a  narrow  trench,  20  or  30  feet  below  the  floor,  along  the  base  of  the  northern 
spur.  The  current  is  rapid,  with  large  cobbles  on  its  banks.  A  few  miles  to  the 
west  the  trench  opens  on  a  broad,  fan-like  plain,  where  the  road  was  very  rough 
from  the  abundance  of  rolled  stones.  The  valley-side  spurs  were  covered  with  loess 
drifts,  hundreds  of  feet  in  length,  thinly  overgrown  with  herbage,  somewhat 
barkhan-like  in  form,  gracefully  convex  in  their  longer  ascent  from  the  west  and 
falling  off  steep  to  the  east ;  crowded  together  and  overlapping  like  a  school  of  fish 
hurrying  upstream ;  more  closely  packed  to  the  west,  and  thinning  out  to  the  east. 
Their  form  is  too  systematically  drawn  in  fig.  35.  The  difference  between  these 
aggraded  drifts  and  the  normally  dissected  slopes  of  the  spurs  of  country  rock 
farther  up  the  valley  was  very  striking  and  suggestive.  The  latter  had  all  the 
down-hill  lines  that  indicate  the  work  of  ordinary  erosive  forces,  and  repeated  the 
ravined  forms  so  familiar  elsewhere.  The  former  showed  no  sign  of  down-hill 
grading,  but  expressed  most  clearly  the  sweeping  of  the  wind  over  their  graceful 
curves.  Hence,  unlike  the  deposits  near  Samarkand  and  Tashkent,  the  loess  here  is 
of  so  recent  a  date  as  to  be  uuchanneled.  It  preserves  most  perfectly  its  wind- 
swept form;  it  may  still  be  growing.  The  phrase,  "wind-swept  form,"  is  used 
because,  although  the  loess  drifts  are  now  covered  with  scanty  herbage,  the  profile 
of  the  drifts,  gently  convex  to  windward  and  falling  more  abruptly  to  leeward, 
suggests  that  the  actual  motion  of  the  wind  has  had  nuich  to  do  with  shaping 
them.  As  to  the  constitution  of  the  drifts,  we  had  the  most  convincing  evidence 
while  descending  across  them  on  the  southern  side  of  the  valley.  An  impalpable 
white  dust  was  raised  in  a  blinding,  smothering  cloud  by  our  galloping  horses  and 
rolling  wheels ;    and  the  penetrating  power  of  the  dust  here  and  elsewhere  was 


LOESS    IN    THE   TIAN    SHAN    MOUNTAINS.  63 

shown  at  the  end  of  the  ride  by  the  condition  of  our  clothes,  which  had  been 
carried  in  a  well-wrapped  valise,  unwisely  tied  on  at  the  back  of  our  tarentass. 

The  form  and  distribution  of  the  drifts  by  Kara-bulak  leaves  no  doubt  as  to 
the  recent  derivation  of  the  loess  from  the  plains  on  the  west  and  northwest.  Not 
only  does  the  fan-like  flood  plain  of  the  Kusak  open  in  that  direction,  but  the  great 
sandy  wastes  of  the  lower  Hi  and  Karatal,  south  of  Lake  Balkash,  stretch  for  scores 
of  miles  beyond.  All  this  gives  further  support  for  the  supposition  that,  in  this 
region  at  least,  loess  is  not  derived  from  mountains,  but  from  the  river  plains.  To 
be  sure,  the  waste  that  is  laid  on  the  plains  comes  originally  from  the  waste  of  the 
mountains,  but  in  the  mountains  the  slopes  are  often  plant-covered,  and  are  therefore 
better  fitted  to  gather  loess  than  to  furnish  it,  as  seems  to  be  attested  in  the  loess 
mounds  that  have  been  so  manifestly  laid  up  on  the  ridges  over  the  Kok  River 
above  mentioned.  It  is  not  from  ordinary  river  valleys  that  loess  is  best  supplied, 
but  from  the  open  plains  of  aggrading  rivers ;  and,  moreover,  it  is  chiefly  while  the 
aggrading  rivers  are  wandering  over  their  plains  that  loess  can  be  furnished  in 
greatest  quantity,  as  was  pointed  out  in  the  notes  on  Fergana,  above.  The  former 
broad  valley  floor  of  the  Kusak  by  Kara-bulak,  for  example,  is  not  to-day  in  condi- 
tion to  furnish  loess,  because  it  has  been  plant-covered  since  the  river  has  intrenched 
itself  below  the  plain,  and  the  river  trench  is  as  yet  too  narrow  for  the  outspreading 
of  silts.  Further  west,  where  the  same  river  emerges  from  its  trench  to  wander 
upon  a  broad  plain,  loess  ma}'  now  be  swept  off  in  good  quantity'  by  the  westerly 
winds,  to  settle  on  the  plant-covered  hills. 

LOESS   IN   THE   (western)    KUGART   VALLEY. 

The  loess  drifts  of  the  Kusak  valley-sides  give  me  confidence  to  put  on  record 
certain  notes  made  in  the  valley  of  the  (western)  Kugart,  in  the  outer  spurs  of  the 
Tian  Shan,  about  20  miles  northeast  of  the  town  of  Jellabad,  in  northeastern 
Fergana.  The  treeless  hillsides  seemed  often  to  be  loess-covered,  and  in  many 
places  the  loess  had  slipped  down,  leaving  a  scar.  Ravines  were  worn  through 
the  loess,  hence  it  was  not  of  verj-  modern  date.  The  loess  and  the  \-alley  floor 
were  well  covered  with  herbage.  But  the  most  significant  feature  was  the  drift-like 
appearance  of  the  loess;  it  seemed  to  lie  in  pillow-like  masses  (fig.  64),  whose  lines 
of  modeling  were  not  down-hill,  except  where  the  drifts  were  gashed  by  ravines, 
but  along  the  hillsides,  as  if  here  it  had  been  wind-swept  down  the  valley  to  the 
southwest.  We  asked  our  jiggits,  who  had  been  detailed  by  the  native  chief  of  tiie 
department  to  accompany  us  to  the  head  of  the  pass,  from  what  direction  the  wind 
blew  in  winter;  and  the  answer  was,  "Strong  from  the  northeast" 

The  Kugart  River  is  to- day  intrenched  from  300  to  400  feet  below  its  former 
valley  floor,  which  was  here  a  mile  or  more  wide.  The  terraced  walls  of  the  trench 
show  the  valley  to  have  been  heavily  aggraded  with  gravels  and  sands.  It  is 
therefore  probable  that  the  loess  on  the  hillsides  was  largely  supplied  from  the 
valley  floor  during  the  period  of  aggradation,  and  that  since  terracing  began  the 
accumulation  of  loess  has  ceased. 


64  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

THE  TIAN  SHAN  MOUNTAINS. 

The  general  geology  of  the  mountain  ranges  that  border  the  plains  of  Turke- 
stan on  the  east  is  too  large  a  subject  and  too  little  connected  with  the  special 
interests  of  our  expedition  to  have  been  itself  an  object  of  special  study  by  our 
party.  Moreover,  it  is  precisely  in  general  geolog)'  that  Russian  explorers  have 
done  such  excellent  work  in  this  region.  But  the  more  modern  histor}-  of  the 
mountains,  as  recorded  in  their  physiographic  development,  seems  to  have  been 
less  examined ;  and  since  this  phase  of  the  subject  is  closely  associated  with  our 
study  of  the  plains,  we  gave  it  our  first  attention  here,  as  we  had  previously  done 
in  the  Kopet  Dagh.  My  own  report  deals  with  the  Tian  Shan  ranges  between  the 
provinces  of  Fergana  and  Semiryetshensk.  The  report  of  Mr.  Huntington  sets 
forth  the  results  of  his  visit  to  Kashgar  after  leaving  me  at  Issik  Kul.  The 
report  hereto  appended  by  Mr.  R.  W.  Pumpelly  tells  of  his  observations  on  the 
mountains  south  of  Fergana  during  a  visit  to  Lake  Kara  Kul  on  the  Pamir. 

PREP.^RATION    FOR   THE   MOUNTAIN  JOURNEY. 

My  party  from  Andizhan  across  the  moimtains  to  Lake  Issik  Kul  included 
Mr.  Huntington  as  assistant  and  Mr.  Brovtzine  as  interpreter.  General  Ivanof, 
governor-general  of  Turkestan,  had  given  us  during  our  stay  at  Tashkent  letters 
of  introduction  to  various  officials;  among  others,  to  the  governor  of  the  Andizhan 
district,  Colonel  Korytof,  from  whom  we  had  much  a.ssistance  in  securing  our  outfit. 
He  detailed  a  member  of  his  police  force,  a  Sart  of  marked  intelligence,  to  act  as 
our  head-man  and  cook,  and  we  had  much  efficient  service  from  liim.  A  second 
man  was  engaged  to  look  after  our  three  pack  horses.  We  received  generous  aid 
also  from  Captain  Asatians,  secretary  of  the  Military  Club  at  New  Marghilan,  where 
we  went  for  certain  supplies.  It  was  by  Mr.  Polovtzof,  diplomatic  official  at 
Tashkent,  and  his  .secretary,  Mr.  Andreef,  that  we  had  been  given  the  practical 
suggestion  of  carrying  colored  handkerchiefs  of  bright  and  varied  patterns,  to  serve 
as  small  change  when  paying  the  Kirghiz  for  supplies  of  mutton  and  milk  and  for 
service  as  guides  in  the  mountains.  We  had  a  small  canvas  tent,  but  seldom  found 
occasion  to  use  it,  as  the  clean  felt  tents  or  "  yurts  "  in  the  summer  camps  of  the 
Kirghiz,  well  furnished  with  felts,  rugs,  and  silk  quilts,  were  much  to  be  preferred 
in  the  cool  and  occasionally  rainy  nights  in  the  mountains.  We  carried  no  firearms. 
Besides  the  local  sheets  of  the  40-verst  map  of  the  "  Southern  Boundary  of  Asiatic 
Russia"  (1889),  blue-print  copies  of  the  contoured  2-versts-to-an-inch  map,  as  far  as 
the  sheets  were  completed  along  our  route,  were  supplied  to  us  by  Major-General 
Gedeonof,  chief  of  the  topographical  office  at  Tashkent,  and  we  can  testify  to  their 
accurate  expression  of  surface  forms.  While  at  Andizhan  we  had  the  good  fortune 
to  meet  Academician  Chernichef,  director  of  the  Russian  Geological  Survey,  and 
his  assistant,  Mr.  Korolkof,  on  their  return  from  a  journey  to  Kashgar.  Professor 
Chernichef  gave  us  much  information  from  his  unpublished  notes  on  the  geologi- 
cal structure  of  the  mountains;  and  Mr.  Korolkof  gave  to  Mr.  Huntington  a  letter 
of  introduction  to  his  father,  General  Korolkof,  in  Przhevalsk,  at  the  eastern  end  of 
Lake  Issik  Kul. 


PREPARATION    FOR   THE    MOUNTAIN    JOURNEY. 


65 


Andizhan  had  been  badly  injured  by  an  earthquake  a  year  before  our  arrival, 
and  the  Russian  part  of  the  city  had  hardly  begun  to  recoxer  from  the  destructive 
effects  of  the  shock.  Many  of  the  inhabitants  had  left  their  shattered  houses  and 
still  were  living  in  box  freight  cars 
that  were  standing  in  trains  on 
temporary  tracks  in  the  streets 
near  the  raihva}-  station.  In  the 
absence  of  any  hotel,  we  spent  the 
few  days  of  inevitable  dela)-,  while 
outfitting,  in  the  small  service  car 
that  had  been  obligingly  put  at 
our  disposition  by  the  railway 
superintendent  at  Tashkent,  where 
we  had  left  the  rest  of  the  party 
in  the  larger  car  that  had  brought 
us  all  from  ]Mer\'.  It  was  during 
this  interval  that  we  visited  the 
ridges  of  tilted  and  dissected 
gravels  and  silts  a  few  miles  south 
of  Andizhan,  to  which  reference 
has  already  been  made. 

One  of  the  most  interesting 
experiences  of  this  part  of  our 
journey  was  the  companionship, 
for  the  first  three  days,  of  Kambar- 
Ali,  the  ]\Iin-bashi  or  native  chief 
(fig.  36)  of  the  department  of 
Kugart,  through  which  we  had  to  pass.  Colonel  Kor^tof  summoned  the  Min- 
bashi  to  Andizhan  the  day  before  we  left  that  city,  and  presented  us  to  him  as 
foreign  travelers  to  whom  he  should  show  ever)'  attention.  The  IMin-bashi 
accordingly  met  us  shortly  after  sunrise  on  June  27,  with  his  interpreter  and 
several  jiggits,  or  mounted  police.  Thus  escorted,  our  cavalcade  rode  forth  along 
shaded  roads,  through  the  fields  and  villages  on  the  fertile  and  populous  plain 
of  Fergana.  One  of  the  jiggits,  riding  ahead,  announced  the  coming  of  his  chief, 
whereupon  all  other  travelers  dismounted  and  remained  standing  on  the  road- 
side to  salute  the  Min-bashi  and  his  party  as  we  rode  by.  We  lunched  at  a  nati\e 
restaurant,  where  tea,  rolls,  and  apricots  were  served.  The  first  night  was  spent  in 
the  town  of  Kurgan  Tepe,  where  we  were  the  guests  of  another  native  chief,  a 
friend  of  our  host.  On  June  28  we  crossed  the  Kara-dar}-a,  a  rushing,  turbid  river, 
in  high-wheeled  carts.  The  river  was  at  that  time  about  200  meters  wide  in  a  mile- 
wide,  barren  flood  plain  of  cobbles,  gravel,  and  silt.  The  cultivated  fields  on  the 
north  and  south  were  from  3  to  5  meters  higher.  We  then  crossed  extensive  wheat 
fields,  owned  by  the  Min-baslii,  and  were  entertained  for  the  night  at  our  host's 
house,  a  spacious  but  simple  residence  near  the  village  of  Chanket.     Here  we  met 


Fig.   56. — Kambar-Ali,  the  Min-Bashi  of  Kugart. 


66 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


several  of  his  sons,  but  his  wives  and  daughters  remained  in  retirement  in  another 
part  of  the  mansion.  Among  the  objects  of  interest  that  were  shown  to  us  with 
justifiable  pride  was  a  photograph  of  chiefs  and  officers,  the  Min-bashi  among  them, 
who  attended  the  coronation  of  the  present  Tsar.  Although  onr  conversation  was 
retarded  b\-  the  necessity  of  two  translations,  the  courtesy  of  our  host  never  failed. 
When  we  took  leave  of  him,  on  June  29,  at  one  of  his  smnmer  houses  near  the 
town  of  Jellabad  (fig.  37),  it  was  with  regret  that  we  lost  so  genial  a  companion. 
Three  of  his  jiggits  went  on  with  us  to  the  limits  of  his  department.  For  four 
days  we  found  that  couriers  had  been  sent  ahead  to  make  announcements  of  our 
coming,  and  to  secure  ns  a  welcome  among  the  people  of  the  uiouutaius. 


Kig.  37.—  The  Min-Bashi  of  Kugart  and  his  Men. 

The  Kirghiz  were  always  helpful  and  hospitable.  The  Russians  had  described 
them  as  untrustworthy,  and  doubtless  they  resemble  people  in  other  parts  of  the 
world  in  including  some  who  are  lazy  and  evasive  with  others  who  are  thrifty  and 
truthful.  Some  of  our  felts  were  stolen  in  a  village  in  the  Tuluk  Valley,  but  they 
were  soon  recovered.  A  similar  experience  has  befallen  me  in  a  mining  town  in 
Montana.  The  leaders  in  the  villages  seemed  to  be  men  of  energy  and  ability. 
They  always  received  us  with  courteous  attention  and  gave  us  of  their  best.  In 
the  midsummer  season  of  our  visit,  the  rude,  mud-house  winter  villages  in  the 
valleys  were  almost  deserted.  We  saw  many  of  the  houses  open  and  empty;  only 
a  few  men  remained  there  to  look  after  the  irrigation  of  the  wheat  and  grass  fields. 
The  rest  of  the  popidation,  with  all  their  possessions,  w^ere  found  in  the  high  valleys. 
Around  Son  Kul  in  particular,  at  an  altitude  over  9,000  feet,  we  .saw  great  numbers 
of  summer  camps.     The  habit  of  life  was  that  of  seasonal  migrants  rather  than 


THE    KIRGHIZ  OF   THE    MOUNTAINS. 


67 


strictly  nomadic.  Tlie  chief  men  were  certainly  well-to-do,  and  seemed  to  want 
for  nothing.  One  of  these,  Kuve  Gen  Shigai-ef  (fig.  38),  had  been  a  judge  among 
his  people  (fig.  39).  He  invited  ns  to  lunch  in  his  yurt  at  Akh  Tash  (White  Stone) 
on  the  Son  Kul  plain.  The  yurt  was  one  of  the  finest  we  had  seen,  with  a  hundred 
sticks  supporting  the  clean  felts  of  the  roof  His  two  wives,  wearing  heavv,  white 
turban  -  like  head  -  dresses,  were 
seated  by  him,  embroidering.  His 
eldest  son  wrote  the  names  of  the 
family  in  my  notebook  in  Turkish 
characters  with  a  ready  hand.  The 
judge  told  us — through  two  trans- 
lators, as  usual — some  of  his  expe- 
riences in  settling  disputes,  chiefly 
about  pasture  land,  and  gave  us 
much  information  about  our  route, 
directing  one  of  his  sons  to  accom- 
pany us  to  his  winter  village,  not 
far  from  Lssik  Kul,  a  three  days' 
journey.  In  another  village,  where 
the  local  chief  was  absent,  his 
elderly  father  entertained  us  most 
genially.  He  was  particularly 
interested  in  our  maps,  and  asked 
many  questions  as  to  the  names 
of  mountains  and  streams,  their 
distance  and  direction  from  his 
camp,  and  found  much  pleasure 
in  confirming  our  readings  by 
reference  to  his  men.  At  the  end 
of  the  evening's  talk  our  host 
.said:  "You  have  traveled  far  aud  have  seen  much  of  the  world;  )ou  must  know 
many  things.  We  are  simple,  ignorant  people,  who  know  only  our  own  mountains 
and  vallevs." 


Fig.  38,- 


Kuve-Gen-Shigai-ef,  his  Younger  Wife  and  Children,  and 
our  Head  Man,  Ma'raim. 


ROUTE    OVER    THE    MOUNTAINS. 

Our  route,  briefly  indicated  at  the  beginning  of  this  report,  may  here  be  given 
in  more  detail  in  so  far  as  the  journey  beyond  Andizhan  is  concerned ;  and  it  may 
be  noted  at  the  outset  that  there  are  wagon  roads  in  the  larger  \'alleys,  with  bridges 
over  some  of  the  streams,  while  trails  cross  the  mountains  in  all  directions.  In  the 
prevailing  absence  of  forests,  movement  is  ea.sy,  except  in  certain  narrow  and  rock- 
walled  gorges  which  some  of  the  rivers  have  worn  in  their  passage  through  the 


After  leaving  Andizhan  on  June  27,  we  went  northeastward   up  the  terraced 
valley  (fig.  63)  of  the  (western)  Kugart  River,  a  branch  of  the  Kara  Dan-a,  following 


68 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


a  wagon  road  half  the  way,  and  then  crossed  by  a  trail  o\er  Kngart  pass  in  the  Fer- 
gana range,  about  10,500  feet  altitude,  in  the  afternoon  of  July  i,  and  descended 
eastward,  to  camp  in  the  \'alley  of  the  (eastern)  Kugart  (figs.  67  and  68),  a  branch  of 
the  Narin,  both  the  Narin  and  the  Kara  Dar\-a  being  branches  of  the  Syr.  On  July  2 
we  crossed  the  Oi-Kain  pass  eastward  to  a  branch  of  the  (eastern)  Kugart,  and 
camped  at  Urgas-Khan,  a  summer  village  of  Kirghiz,  in  a  grassy  valley  at  about 
8,000  feet  elevation.  At  noon  of  this  day  we  o\-ertook  a  large  caravan  of  horses 
and  camels  laden  with  merchandise  for  the  interior.  An  open  pass  led  us  eastward 
to  the  headwaters  of  the  Makmal  on  the  morning  of  July  3,  and  after  crossing  a  belt 
of  badlands  southward,  we  camped  by  a  new  bridge  o\-er  the  Alabuga  River.  Here 
we  met  a  Russian  lieutenant  of  engineers,  on  his  wa}'  to  superintend  work  on  a 


Fig.  39. — Kuve-Gen-Shigai-e{  and  some  of  his  Men  at  Akh  Tash,  Son  Kul. 

road  over  the  Kugart  pass.  He  had  latel}-  been  in  Kashgar,  and  gave  Mr.  Hunt- 
ington some  useful  suggestions  about  the  road  thither.  We  followed  a  good  road 
down  the  Alabuga  Valley  northeastward  (fig.  60)  on  July  4,  and  rested  over  Sunday, 
July  5,  in  the  garden  of  a  Kirghiz  winter  village,  Tot-kui.  On  July  6  we  reached 
the  junction  of  the  Alabuga  and  the  Narin,  and  turned  eastward  up  the  Narin  \'al- 
ley,  camping  for  the  night  on  the  river  bank  at  an  altitude  of  about  6,500  feet,  near 
a  party  of  Sart  sheep  dealers,  who  had  just  brought  a  flock  of  some  3,600  sheep 
across  the  ri\-er  with  a  loss  of  only  ten,  on  their  way  to  Fergana.  Since  July  3 
the  road  had  been  in  a  dissected  basin  of  Tertiary  conglomerates  and  clays,  which 
continued  eastward  far  up  the  Narin  Valley. 

On  Jnl>'  7  we  forded  the  Narin,  and  turned  northward  along  a  trail  up  a  side 
valley,  camping  in  the  mountains  with  a  party  of  Kirghiz,  who  were  driving  their 


THE   ROUTE   THROUGH    THE    MOUNTAINS.  69 

flocks  to  summer  pasture  by  Lake  Son  Kul.  The  next  day,  July  8,  we  went  on 
with  the  Kirghiz,  crossing  the  Dongus-tau  range  at  about  10,000  feet  elevation, 
reaching  the  lake  about  noon,  and  camping  above  9,300  feet  in  one  of  the  summer 
villages  on  its  southern  border,  after  an  afternoon  ride  to  a  small  glaciated  valley. 
The  gra}-  }-urts  of  many  Kirghiz  encampments  were  dotted  around  the  lake,  and 
near  each  camp  the  grassy  meadows  gave  pasture  to  camels  by  the  score,  horses  and 
cattle  by  the  hundred,  and  sheep  and  goats  b}-  the  thousand.  On  July  9  we  forded 
the  outlet  of  the  lake  at  its  southeastern  corner,  went  northward  along  the  plains 
on  its  eastern  side,  visited  two  glaciated  valleys  of  the  Kok-tal  range  in  the 
afternoon  and  then  had  our  view  of  the  flat-topped  Bural-bas-tau  range  to  the 
southeast;  we  camped  in  another  summer  village  for  the  night.  On  July  10 
we  crossed  the  Kum-ashu  pass  in  the  Kok-tal  range  and  descended  northward  to 
the  Tuluk  \'alley,  camping  again  in  a  Kirghiz  village.  Having  seen  during  the 
descent  a  large  moraine  in  the  Chalai  range  (fig.  49),  north  of  the  valley,  we  went 
up  to  it  (fig.  50)  on  the  morning  of  July  11,  and  in  the  afternoon  followed  down 
the  Tuluk-su,  eastward  to  its  junction  with  the  Juvan-arik  (so-called  by  a  post- 
master, but  named  Kara-khojur  on  the  40-verst  map),  and  there  stayed  in  the  post 
station,  Sari-bulak,  on  the  road  from  Kashgar  and  Narinsk  through  the  mountains 
to  the  open  conntr}'  of  the  north.  On  July  12  we  went  northward  through  deep 
gorges  in  the  Yukok-tau  range  down  the  Juvan-arik  to  its  junction  with  the  Kach- 
kar  River  in  the  Kach-kar  basin,  south  of  the  Alexander  range,  and  rested  at  Serai 
Kara-gol  over  July  13.  The  river  below  the  junction  is  the  upper  trunk  stream  of 
the  Chu,  which  farther  on  escapes  northward  from  the  mountains  and  then  flows 
far  west  to  disappear  on  the  plains ;  but  it  is  here  called  the  Urta-Takoi.  We 
followed  it  eastward  on  Juh'  14  and  camped  on  the  plain  that  borders  the  western 
end  of  Issik  Kul  at  an  altitude  of  5,300  feet. 

On  July  15  and  16  we  made  a  detour  south  of  the  lake  to  see  some  glaciated 
valle}s  in  the  Terskei  Ala-tau  range,  camping  the  first  night  at  a  small  spring  in 
the  mountains,  and  the  second  night  enjoying  the  comfort  of  an  excellent  yurt  at 
a  summer  village  in  the  upper  valley  of  the  Ula-khol,  an  afiluent  of  the  lake.  On 
Jul\-  x"]  we  returned  to  the  west  end  of  Issik  Kul,  where  the  rapid  Chu  makes  a 
sharp  bend  from  a  northward  to  a  westward  course,  and  at  the  elbow  gi\-es  out  a 
small  distributar)-,  the  Kute-maldi,  which  flows  with  sluggish  current  eastward  to 
the  lake.  On  July  18  we  followed  the  post  road  eastward  along  the  north  side  of 
the  lake  and  spent  Sunday,  July  19,  at  Turaigir  station.  We  still  followed  the  post 
road  eastward  on  July  20  and  21,  reaching  the  Russian  village  of  Sazanovka. 
There  Mr.  Huntington  left  us  on  the  morning  of  July  22,  our  head-man  going  with 
him,  on  the  road  around  the  east  end  of  the  lake,  and  thence  southwest  and  south 
over  the  Tian  Shan  to  Kashgar,  as  is  duly  set  forth  in  his  report.  ISIr.  Brovtzine 
and  I  turned  northward,  hoping  to  cross  the  Kungei  Ala-tau  range  by  the  Sutto- 
bulak  pass  on  the  direct  way  to  Vyemyi.  We  spent  the  night  of  July  22  at  a 
Kirghiz  camp  in  a  moraine  basin,  at  about  8,000  feet  altitude,  but  on  Juh-  ij,  were 
disappointed  to  find  the  valley  head  below  the  pass  covered  with  decji  snow.  We 
attempted  to  beat  a  track  for  our  horses  (fig.  52),  but  gave  it  up  on  reaching  the 


70  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

top  of  a  fresh  moraine  at  a  height  of  over  ii,ooo  feet,  near  tlie  end  of  a  small 
glacier,  and  finding  a  mile  of  snow  and  nearly  a  thousand  feet  of  ascent  still  before 
us.  Our  Kirghiz  guides  then  .said  they  had  known  it  would  not  be  po.ssible  for  us 
to  make  the  pass.  We  had  asked  tliem  many  questions  the  day  before  and  they 
had  promised  to  show  us  the  trail.  Their  silence  about  the  difficulty  of  the  pass 
apparently  resulted  from  a  feeling  of  deference  to  foreign  travelers.  We  returned 
to  Sazanovka,  sold  our  horses  at  about  half  purchase  price,  di.scharged  our  packer, 
and  set  out  in  post  wagon  (fig.  45),  retracing  the  road  along  the  lake  through  the 
afternoon  and  night  of  Juh-  24,  descending  northward  through  the  Buam  gorge  of 
the  Chu,  between  the  Kungei  Ala-tau  and  the  Alexander  ranges  on  July  25,  crossing 
northeastward  over  the  western  branch  of  the  Trans-Ili  Ala-tau  range  in  tlie  night, 
following  the  piedmont  plain  eastward  through  the  morning  of  Sunday,  July  26, 
and  reaching  \'yernyi  in  the  afternoon  (altitude  2,400  feet). 

On  Julv  27  we  called  on  General  Youof,  governor  of  the  province  of  Semi- 
ryetshensk,  and  on  July  28  started  for  a  ride  of  1,000  versts  northward  across  the 
steppes  (fig.  48)  in  a  tarentass,  or  springless  post  wagon  (fig.  45).  We  made  good 
time,  stopping  only  to  change  hor.ses  and  for  meals,  and  in  spite  of  the  loss  of  .seven 
hours  from  breaking  one  wheel  and  from  binding  another,  reached  Semipalatinsk, 
on  the  Irt\-sh,  in  the  afternoon  of  August  2.  The  guest  rooms  in  the  post  stations 
on  the  road  were,  with  very  few  exceptions,  clean  and  neatl\-  furnished.  Tea, 
bread,  milk,  and  hone)'  were  among  the  chief  articles  of  food  to  be  had.  At  Semi- 
palatinsk we  waited  two  days  for  a  boat  to  go  down  the  river,  starting  in  the  early 
morning  of  August  5,  and  reaching  Omsk  on  August  7.  The  fast  express  on  the 
Siberian  railway  carried  us  westward  from  Omsk  at  midnight,  August  8. 

This  joiirney  furnished  many  entertaining  incidents,  some  of  which  I  have 
narrated  elsewhere.  It  afforded  continued  opportunity  for  observations  of  geologic 
and  physiographic  interest,  of  which  the  most  suggestive  are  here  presented  in 
classified  rather  than  in  narrative  order,  under  such  headings  as  mountains,  glacial 
records,  Tertiar)-  basins,  vallej-s  with  gorges  and  terraces,  and  lakes.  The  features 
of  the  mountains  and  the  Tertiar}-  basins  do  not  bear  directly  on  the  work  in  hand. 
The  other  headings  afford  material  of  a  kind  that  may,  if  sufficiently  extended  by 
further  observation,  suffice  to  determine  a  number  of  subdivisions  of  Quaternary 
time.  On  all  these  subjects,  except  the  Tertiary  basins,  ]\Ir.  Huntington's  report 
on  his  journey  south  to  Kashgar  and  west  to  Fergana  in  August  and  September 
contains  important  information  supplementing  that  which  was  gathered  while  we 
were  together  through  July. 

WE.'VTHER,    CLIMATE,    AND   VEGETATION    IN   THE   TIAN   SHAN. 

The  oppressive  heat  of  the  southern  plains  had  already  moderated  at  vSaiuar- 
kand  and  Tashkent.  After  leaving  Andizhan  the  days  were  not  uncomfortably 
warm,  except  for  a  few  noon  hours  in  the  upper  Narin  Valley,  and  the  nights 
were  always  cool  or  cold.      Water  froze  near  our  tent  at  Son  Kul  on  the  night  of 


WEATHER    AND    CLIMATE    IX    THE   TIAN    SIIAX.  71 

Jul\-  8-9.  Rain  fell  not  infrequently  between  noon  and  night,  for  the  most  part  from 
the  mountain-made,  overgrown  cumulus  or  nimbus  clouds,  which  drifted  slowh- 
eastward,  their  cirro-stratus  cover  far  outreachiiig  the  main  cloud  mass.  Main-  of  the 
showers  fell  only  on  the  mountains,  leaving  the  open,  inter-range  depressions,  such  as 
the  Alabuga  and  Narin  valleys  and  the  Issik  Kul  basin,  dr)-  and  of  subarid  appear- 
ance. Thunder  showers  swept  b\-  while  we  were  in  the  (western)  Kugart  \'alley, 
June  30,  and  while  we  were  crossing  the  Kugart  and  Oi-Kain  passes,  July  i  and  2; 
hea\y  rain  and  hail  showers  drifted  over  us  at  Son  Kul,  July  10.  We  wore  long, 
black  woolen  waterproof  cloaks  (burkas)  of  the  Caucasus,  that  protected  us  admira- 
bly while  riding  in  the  rain.  The  Chaar  Tash  range,  ending  eastsvard  in  the  angle 
between  the  Alabuga  and  Narin  rivers,  fed  a  series  of  floating  cumuli  f  July  6),  which 
slowly  dissolved  as  they  drifted  bejond  the  mountains.  We  saw  a  number  of  distant 
thunder  storms  o\-er  the  mountains  by  Issik  Kul.  The  fair-weather  days  on  this 
lake  were  characterized  by  clear  sky  over  the  water  and  by  long  rows  of  cumuli 
over  the  snowy  Kungei  and  Terskei  Alatau  to  the  north  and  south.  We  were 
troubled  with  high  wind  only  on  July  17,  when  a  dr}'  gale  from  the  west  swept  over 
the  plain  bj'  Issik  Kul ;  and  for  a  short  time  in  the  afternoon  of  August  2,  when  a 
furious  dust  squall  from  the  west  beset  us  as  we  rode  into  Semipalatinsk. 

The  only  climatic  feature  which  our  short  excursion  brought  clearly  forth 
is  the  contrast  between  the  mountains  and  the  deeper  valleys  as  to  rainfall  and 
relative  aridity.  As  already  noted  in  the  Kopet  Dagli,  a  difference  of  elevation  of 
a  few  thousand  feet  produced  a  marked  difference  in  the  appearance  of  the  surface. 
\'egetation  was  scanty  in  June  in  the  deeper  interior  \-alleys  or  basins  of  the  Tian 
Shan  at  elevations  of  7,000  feet  or  less ;  it  was  abundant  in  the  higher  valleys 
above  8,000  feet.  The  cause  of  this  contrast  did  not  seem  to  reside  mereh- 
in  increase  of  rainfall  with  altitude,  and  in  the  protection  of  the  inner  valleys 
from  the  rain-bringing  winds  by  the  inclosing  mountain  barriers,  but  also  in  the 
direct  excitement  of  rain-making  processes  on  the  mountain  ranges  and  in  the 
cessation  or  perhaps  e\-en  the  reversal  of  these  processes  in  the  large,  open  valle\-s. 
The  preceding  paragraph  tells  of  several  examples  in  which  the  growth  of  thunder- 
shower  clouds  was  intimately  associated  with  moimtain  ranges,  thus  suggesting 
their  dependence  on  the  ascending  diurnal  breezes  on  the  mountain  sides,  as  has 
often  been  noted  elsewhere.  In  contrast  with  the  mountain  cloud  masses  was  the 
prevailingly  clear  sky  o\-er  the  open  depressions,  as  noted  in  the  Alabuga  and  Narin 
valle)-s  and  over  Issik  Kul  ;  and  here  a  descending  component  of  atmospheric 
movement  should  prevail  to  compensate  for  the  ascending  component  where  the 
cloud  masses  occur.  Hence  the  open  valle\s  not  only  receive  ver>-  little  summer 
rainfall,  but  they  are  swept  over  by  air  whose  dryness  has  been  increased  b}-  the 
descending  component  of  its  motion.  Their  descending  component  is  not  merelv 
that  by  which  a  wind  should,  after  crossing  a  range,  tuni  do^^^lward  into  a  basin. 
The  descending  component  of  this  general  origin  must  be  largely  increased  by  the 
local  con\ectional  circulation  that  is  excited  by  the  mountains.  Thus  the  basins 
not  onh-  get  little  rainfall,  but  are  parched  by  evaporation  into  the  dr}-ing  winds 
that  settle  upon  them.     The  seasonal  migration  of  the  Kirghiz,  with  their  herds 


72  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

and  flocks,  is  an  immediate  response  to  the  distribution  of  vegetation,  as  thus 
determined. 

The  prevailing  absence  of  trees  is  tlie  most  notable  feature  of  the  vegetation. 
There  were  open  groves  of  poplars  close  b)-  some  of  the  streams,  Ijut  where  the 
more  important  trails  followed  the  valleys  the  trees  had  been  unmercifully  trimmed 
or  felled  for  firewood,  and  few  remained  standing.  In  one  of  the  branch  valleys  of 
the  Alabuga  a  single  large  tree  ser\'es  as  so  notable  a  landmark  that  it  is  entered 
upon  the  large-scale  Ru.ssian  map.  On  our  way  from  the  Narin  Valley  up  to  Son 
Kid,  we  passed  through  fine  groves  of  coniferous  trees,  but  their  occurrence  was 
exceptional.  Nothing  of  the  sort  was  seen  at  similar  altitudes  when  descending 
from  Son  Kul  into  the  Tuluk  Valley.  Again,  during  our  ascent  into  one  of  the 
south-opening  vallej'S  of  the  Kungei  Ala-tau,  north  of  Issik  Kul,  fine  groves  of 
conifers  occupied  the  more  shaded  slopes  of  the  side  ravines.  The  line  between 
trees  and  herbage  was  often  verj-  sharply  defined.  This  was  noted  by  Severtzof,  who 
ascribed  the  general  absence  of  trees  to  a  recent  change  from  a  moister  to  a  drier 
climate  (1875,  66,  67);  but  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  the  prevailing  absence  of 
trees  is  natural  on  mountain  slopes  where  flourishing  groves  are  occasionally  found. 
It  seems  more  reasonable  to  ascribe  the  treelessness  of  the  mountain  sides  to  their 
long  occupation  by  nomadic  pastoral  tribes,  to  whom  pastures  were  of  greater  value 
than  forests.  It  would  be  interesting,  in  this  connection,  to  inclose  and  protect 
certain  of  the  mountain  tracts  from  grazing,  and  to  plant  them  with  tree  seeds  or 
young  trees ;  and  it  would  be  surprising  if  a  thrifty  growth  did  not  result.  It  is  also 
noteworthy  that  the  absence  of  trees  is  not  accompanied  either  by  small  rainfall  or 
by  barrenness  on  the  mountain  sides.  Rains  were  abundant  in  the  higher  ranges 
in  Juh',  and  gra.ssy  herbage  grew  there  luxuriant!)'. 

An  interesting  contrast  in  the  relation  of  vegetation  to  insolation  was  noted 
in  passing  from  the  deeper  valleys  to  the  higher  mountains.  In  the  bad-lands  of  the 
Narin  basin,  at  altitudes  of  6,500  or  7,000  feet,  the  sunny  slopes  were  prevailingly 
bare  and  minuteh'  dissected,  while  the  shady  slopes  were  occupied  by  a  sparse 
herbage  and  were  of  smoother  form.  On  the  high  spurs  of  the  Kungei  Ala-tau,  at 
altitudes  of  10,000  feet  or  more,  and  above  the  tree  line,  the  sunny  slopes  had  the 
better  cover  of  grass,  while  the  shady  slopes  were  relatively  barren.  In  the  first 
case,  sunshine  promotes  aridity  and  exchides  vegetation.  In  the  second  case, 
sunshine  promotes  snow-melting  and  favors  vegetation. 

DEVELOPMENT   OF   THE   TIAN   SHAN   MOUNTAINS. 

A  number  of  the  mountain  ranges  that  we  saw  were  of  vigorous  form,  with 
sharp  peaks  and  deei>car\'ed  ^•alle}•s,  in  which  it  was  impossible  to  recognize  any 
trace  of  the  original  unsculptured  mass  ;  but  certain  observations  made  in  the  central 
and  northern  ranges,  near  Lakes  Son  Kul  and  Issik  Kul,  and  on  the  steppes  that 
border  the  mountains  on  the  north,  led  to  the  belief  that  the  region  had  been  verj' 
generally  worn  down  to  moderate  or  small  relief  since  the  time  of  greater  defonna- 
tion,  which  probably  occurred  in  the  Mesozoic  age  ;  that  large  areas  of  subdued  or 
extinguished  mountain  structures  are  still  to  be  seen  in  the  low  ranges  and  in  the 


THE    TIAN    SHAN    MOUNTAINS. 


73 


steppes  north  of  the  Hi  River;  and  that  the  present  relief  of  many  of  the  higher 
Tian  Shan  ranges  is  the  result  of  a  somewhat  disorderly  uplift  and  of  a  more  or  less 
complete  dissection  of  dislocated  parts  of  the  worn-down  region.  Mr.  Huntington's 
report  .shows  the  application  of  these  conclusions  to  a  large  part  of  the  central  and 
southern  Tian  Shan. 

THE   BURAL-B.\S-TAU. 

The  first  range  that  led  to  this  belief  was  the  Bural-bas-tau,  which  rises  north 
of  the  Narin  \'alle\-  and  southeast  of  Son  Kul.  Its  name  is  taken  from  the  Russian 
40-verst  map.  Friedrichsen  (1899)  calls  it  the  Mulda-aschu.  We  saw  the  range 
some  50  miles  away  as  we  were  riding  down  the  Alabuga  \'alley  on  July  4  ;  the 


Fig.  40. — The  Flat-Topped   Bural-bas-tau,  looking  Southeast. 

evenness  of  its  snow-covered  crest  suggested  that  it  nuist  be  a  plateau-like  mass  of 
horizontal  structure,  amid  its  deformed  neighbors.  It  was  lost  to  sight  after  we  had 
entered  the  Narin  \"alley,  and  was  not  seen  again  until  July  9,  when  we  climbed 
the  Kok-tal  range  northeast  of  Son  Kul.     It  was  there  that  figures  40  and  41  were 


Fig.  41. — The  Flat-Topped  Bural-bas-tau.  looking  South. 

sketched.  The  e\-enness  of  the  plateau-like  highland,  all  snow-covered  at  an  estimated 
height  of  at  least  12,000  or  13,000  feet,  was  most  remarkable,  and  all  the  more  so  as 
our  field-glasses  now  showed  the  range  to  be  composed  of  massi\-e  rocks,  probably 
granites,  such  as  are  plentiful  thereabouts.  The  highland  has  faint  undulations, 
and  slopes  gently  to  the  north  and  east.  Great  ravines,  heading  in  glacial  cirques, 
are  car\'ed  in  its  northern  flank.  The  spurs  between  the  ravines  preserve  their  even 
crest  for  a  short  distance,  but  are  then  converted  into  sharp  aretes.  One  ravine, 
longer  than  the  others,  cuts  the  highland  obliquely.  It  reminded  us  of  the  Colorado 
Canyon  in  the  Kanab  plateau  of  Arizona,  as  we  had  seen  it  from  the  top  of  Mount 
Trumbull  in  the  sunnner  of  1902.  One  ravine-heading  cirque,  opening  northward, 
seemed  to  head  against  another,  opening  southward,  and  there  the  even  highland 
surface  was  reduced  to  a  serrate  ridge  that  sagged  a  little  below  the  general  level. 
The  highland  ascends  gradiialh-  westward,  and  in  that  direction  its  detached  por- 
tions, with  flat  tops,  are  seen  beyond  encroaching  \alleys;  then,  still  farther  west, 
these  arc  succeeded  by  peaks  and  ridges  of  ordinary  fonn  in  the  Dongxis-tau  range 
south  of  Son  Kul. 


74  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

There  can  be  no  question  that  the  highland  of  the  Bural-bas-taii  was  once  part 
of  a  well-finished  lowland  of  erosion,  presumabh-  a  peneplain  of  subaerial  degrada- 
tion. It  must  ha\e  gained  its  present  altitude  with  comparative  rapidity,  and  in 
geologically  modern  time  ;  otherwise  it  would  be  more  dissected  to-day.  When  it 
still  lay  low,  the  lowland  of  which  it  was  a  part  must  have  been  much  more 
extensive  than  the  present  area  of  the  highland ;  for  lowlands  can  not  be  worn  down 
on  resistant  crystalline  rocks  without  the  very  general  reduction  of  all  neighboring 
and  quiescent  structures.  It  thus  becomes  probable,  from  the  consideration  of  this 
range  alone,  that  many  neighboring  ranges  have  shared  its  historj-,  and  if  they  do 
not  all  to-day  imitate  its  plateau-like  fonn,  it  must  be  that  they  were  somewhat  less 
worn  down  in  the  previous  cycle  of  erosion,  or,  like  the  Dongus-tau,  already  more 
consumed  (owing  to  greater  uplift  or  to  weaker  structure)  in  the  present  cycle,  or 
both.  This  conclusion  did  not  long  remain  a  matter  of  speculation  only,  for  at  Son 
Kul  and  around  Issik  Kul  we  found  many  other  ranges  that  sujjported  it. 

THE   KOK-TAI.   RANGE   AND   THE   SON    KUL   BASIN. 

The  steep-sided  glacial  troughs  that  we  examined  in  the  Kok-tal  range  north- 
east of  Son  Kid  are  eroded  in  a  granitic  upland  of  moderate  relief  that  slopes 
toward  the  lake  basin.  The  sloping  tipland  was  continued  east  of  the  lake,  where 
it  gradtially  descended  to  a  broad  granite  floor,  across  \\liich  the  lake  outlet  has  cut 
an  open  trench,  75  or  100  feet  deep.  All  this  granite  surface  is  to-day  suffering 
dissection  and  gaining  stronger  relief  The  lake  outlet  must  fall  rapidly  in 
descending  3,000  feet  to  the  Narin  Ri\-er,  and  a  deep  gorge  will  in  time  be  cut 
along  its  course.  The  side  streams  from  the  north  will,  therefore,  intrench  them- 
selves deeply,  and  the  granite  .slope  between  them  will  be  converted  into  a  series  of 
.sharp  spurs  in  the  mature  stage  of  the  present  cycle  of  erosion.  The  simple  surface 
in  which  the  glacial  troughs  and  stream  valleys  have  already  been  eroded  is  itself  a 
surface  of  erosion,  but  it  could  not  have  been  produced  in  its  present  attitude ;  it 
must  have  long  stood  lower  and  more  nearly  level.  Its  present  elevated  and  inclined 
attitude  must  have  been  gained  by  a  warping  uplift  in  modern  geological  time.  We 
are,  therefore,  disposed  to  look  upon  the  sloping  upland  as  once  having  made  part 
of  the  peneplain  that  is  more  clearly  proclaimed  in  the  highland  of  the  Bural-bas- 
tau.  The  basin  of  Son  Kid  is  probably  the  result  of  warping  or  faulting  the  same 
peneplain.  The  northern  slope  of  the  Kok-tal  range  descends  rapidly  into  the 
valley  of  the  Tuluk,  and  its  slope  is  sharply  dissected  by  man}-  side  streams.  When 
seen  from  the  moraines  in  the  Chalai  range,  north  of  the  Tuluk,  the  crest  of  the 
Kok-tal  has  a  rather  even  crest  line,  much  more  even  than  the  serrate  crest  of  the 
Chalai  range  itself 

THE    RANGES    NEAR    ISSIK    KUL. 

The  road  through  the  gorges  of  the  Juvan-arik  gave  us  no  sight  of  the 
mountain  crests  ;  but  when  we  entered  the  open  Kach-kar  basin,  the  long  slope  of 
the  Alexander  range  ascended  northward  from  the  farther  side  of  the  basin,  and 
its  general  appearance  at  once  suggested  block-faulting.     This  suggestion  was  con- 


THE    RANGES    NEAR    ISSIK    KUL. 


75 


Alexander  FUinge,  looking 


firmed  b)-  many  features  noted  afterward.  The  south  slope  of  the  range  had  a 
hackly  surface,  due  to  the  erosion  of  many  small  branching  valleys  among  its 
\aricolored  crystalline  ledges ;  but  when  seen  in  profile  a  few  days  later  from  the 
west  end  of  Issik  Kul,  the  smaller  irreg- 
ularities of  the  slope  were  lost  in  a 
remarkably  simple  outline,  sketched  in 
figure  42.  The  crest  rose  above  the 
snow  patches  of  mid-July;  one  of  its 
highest  parts,  isolated  between  two  en- 
croaching valley  heads,  had  an  obliquely  truncated  summit  in  line  with  the  long 
back  (south)  slope.  The  northeastern  face  of  the  range  was  much  steeper  and  more 
sharply  dissected  by  the  side  streams  of  the  Chu.  It  was  therefore  concluded  that 
the  Alexander  range  is  a  faulted  block  of  a  peneplain,  of  which  the  former  lowland 
surface  is  now  uplifted,  tilted  to  the  south  and  moderately  dissected,  while  the 
steeper  northern  faulted  face  is  deeply  carved  in  great  spurs  and  ravines.  The 
Kach-kar  basin  is  apparenth'  an  aggraded  area  on  the  relatively  depressed  southern 
side  of  the  block,  as  will  be  again  considered  farther  on. 

Three  small  mountain  masses  (A,  B,  C,  fig.  43),  between  the  Alexander  range 
and  Issik  Kul,  had  much  the  appearance  of  tilted  and  dissected  blocks,  sloping  to 
the  south  and  facing  to  the  north.  If  this  be  true,  their  displacement  ceased  longer 
ago  and  their  dissection  has  progressed  farther  than  is  the  case  in  certain  parts  of 
the  Wasatch  range  of  Utah  which  I  examined  in  1902  ;  for  the  spurs  on  the 
faulted  face  of  the  ranges  by  Issik  Kul  do  not  possess  tenninal  facets,  and  the 
ravines  between  the  spurs  on  both  the  front  and  the  back  slopes  have  open  mouths. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  back 
slopes  of  these  ranges  still  have 
general  profiles  of  greater  regu- 
larity than  tliose  of  the  Utah 
ranges  that  I  have  seen.  This 
may  be  because  the  Issik  Kul 
ranges  were  more  smoothly  worn 
down  in  the  pre-faulting  cycle 
than  were  the  Utah  ranges.  The 
only  sure  indication  of  recent 
dislocation  among  these  ranges 
was  a  fault  scarp,  10  to  50  feet  in 
height,  more  than  a  mile  in 
length,  and  trending  northwest- 
ward across  the  gravel  fans  at  the  northeastern  comer  of  range  B.  It  should  be 
stated  that  this  scarp  was  only  seen  at  a  distance  of  a  mile  or  more ;  but  it  was 
closely  examined  through  a  good  field-glass  from  different  points  of  view  and  in 
different  lights.  The  manner  in  which  it  was  crossed  by  the  gullies  radiating  from 
the  mountain  ravines  left  no  doubt  in  my  mind  as  to  its  meaning  and  origin, 
A  large  fan,  spreading  into  the  Urta-takoi  basin  on  the  south  side  of  the  same  range. 


ilftfe^ 


ALEX-    '^ 
RANGE       VSl 


LOFTY  %mmi^j2^M 

SNOW  COVERED       :^My^         ^j^^^vvVllMlllrtoW'*"*^ 

-'^'^  -..  c,    ALA-TAU 

20  MILES  ? 


Fig.  43. — Rough  Sketch  Map  of  the  Ranges  southwest  of  Issik  Kul. 


jS  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

as  well  as  many  smaller  fans  at  the  base  of  other  ranges,  showed  no  signs  of 
faulting.    Their  radial  slopes  were  smooth  and  unbroken.     The  small  range  or  block 

C,  fig.  43,  appears  to  be  cut  off  from  the  larger  block,  B,  b\-  the  gorge  of  the  Urta- 
takoi  (Chu)  River.  The  post-road  goes  north  through  the  gorge,  but  we  turned 
eastward  and  followed  the  aggraded  trough  between  ranges  C  and  D,  directly  to  the 
lake.  A  drs-stream  bed,  gathering  all  the  wa.sh  from  the  piedmont  gravels  of  the 
much  higher  range,  D,  on  the  south,  was  pushed  close  to  the  base  of  the  back  slope 
of  the  smaller  range,  C,  on  the  north,  sometimes  e\en  undercutting  the  base  of  its 
spurs.  The  northern  range  was,  where  we  saw  it,  composed  of  rough  conglomerates 
and  sandstones,  dipping  steep  to  the  south,  and  to  all  appearance  much  older  than 
the  modern  conglomerates  of  the  Issik  Kul  basin.  Their  strike  to  the  east-northeast 
ran  obliquely  to  the  trend  of  the  range.  The  strata  were  obliquely  truncated  b\-  the 
general  back  slope  of  the  range,  as  in  figure  44.     The  conglomerates  and  sand 

stones,  generalh'  dull-red  on  fresh  surfaces, 
were  so  darkh'  weathered  with  "desert 
varnish  "  that  we  at  first  took  them  to  be 
basaltic  lavas ;  they  were  often  cut  by  black 
Fig.  44.— Ideal  Secrion  from  Range  C  to  D,  Figure  43,      dikcs.    The  northern  face  of  this  range  was 

looking  east.  ,  ,  i  t^ 

much   steeper  than  the  southern.     Range 

D,  on  the  south,  gave  no  conclusive  evidence  of  block-faulting,  for  it  was  much 
dissected  ;  but  its  comparatively  straight  northern  base-line  and  the  great  body  of 
waste  that  has  accumulated  beneath  it  are  suggestive  of  differential  movements,  with 
the  appropriate  consequences  of  degradation  of  the  uplifted  block  and  aggradation 
of  the  depressed  block.  A  few  knobs  of  rock  rise  tlnough  the  piedmont  gravel  slope. 
They  may  be  interpreted  as  remnants  of  narrow  blocks,  on  Gilbert's  theory  of 
faulting,  or  as  remnants  of  a  broader  mountain  mass  on  Spurr's  theory'  of  compound 
erosion  of  the  Utah-Nevada  ranges. 

The  Kungei  Ala-tau,  north  of  the  west  end  of  Issik  Kul,  is  a  dissected  block- 
like mass  with  a  plateau-like  crest.  It  rises  and  becomes  more  and  more  dissected 
to  the  east.  There  is  much  evidence  of  subordinate  faulting  along  part  of  its 
southern  base,  as  will  be  more  fully  set  forth  in  the  chapter  on  Issik  Kul.  North 
of  the  middle  of  the  lake  this  range  is  of  well-developed  Alpine  form,  with  cirques 
and  glaciers  that  are  further  described  in  the  chapter  on  glacial  records. 

It  may  here  be  noted  that  earthquakes,  of  no  infrequent  occurrence  in  the  Tian 
Shan,  are  regarded  by  Mushketof  (1890)  as  due  to  movement  on  fault  lines  along  the 
base  of  certain  ranges,  the  Alexander  range  being  one.  The  shocks  by  which 
Vyemyi  was  destroyed  on  May  28,  1887  (O.  S.),  were  ascribed  by  this  observer  to 
a  fault  along  the  northern  base  of  the  Trans-Ili  Ala-tau.  The  shocks  continued  for 
about  two  years.  Wosnessensky  (1888)  showed  that  they  \-aried  with  the  changes 
of  atmospheric  pressure,  increasing  with  the  occurrence  of  low  pressure.  We  were 
told  that  Sazanovka,  a  Russian  settlement  on  the  north  side  of  Issik  Kul,  was 
destroyed  by  an  earthquake  six  years  ago. 


THE    NORTHERN    RANGES   AND    STEPPES. 


11 


THE    RANGES   AND   STEPPES   OF  SEMIRYETSHENSK   AND  SEMIPALATINSK. 

Our  hurried  northward  ride  from  Vyemyi  across  the  Seven-river  and  Seven- 
house  pro\inces,  above-named — one  in  Turkestan,  the  other  in  Siberia — to  the  cit^- 
of  Semipalatinsk,  allowed  no  opportunity  for  deliberate  observation,  yet  it  gave  a 
sight  of  certain  pliysiographic  features  that  could  be  appreciated  e\-en  from  a  rat- 
tling tarentass  (fig.  45),  and  which  deser\-e  brief  record. 

The  post-road  crosses  a  broad  plain,  apparenth'  loess-co\-ered  and  certainly  very 
dust}-,  north  of  the  Trans-Ili  Ala-tau,  and  gradually  descends  to  a  bridge  across 
the  Hi  River  at  Iliisk.  North  of 
the  river  ledges  appear  and  the 
surface  rises  more  rapidly.  The 
upland  plain  continues  to  the 
northwest,  where  we  saw  in  the 
distance  a  narrow,  rock-walled 
gorge,  through  which  the  ri\er 
flows  to  the  desert  bordering  Lake 
Balkash.  A  solitary-  monadnock- 
like  mound  rose  above  the  broad 
plain  near  the  gorge.  Northeast 
of  Iliisk  low  mountains  of  sub- 
dued fonn  were  crossed  in  the  early 
evening. 

The  ne.xt  morning  a  western 
spur  of  the  subdued  Borochoro 
range  north  of  the  Kok  River,  by 
Tzaratziu  post-station,  presented  fonns  that  suggested  block-faulting,  and  that 
found  no  explanation  in  the  structure  of  the  cPiStalline  rocks  of  which  it  was 
composed.  It  had  a  nearly  even  sky  line,  an  abrupt  southern  face  with  simple 
base  line,  and  short,  steep  ra\ines.  The  ri\-er  flows  through  an  open  \alle\-  by 
Tzaratziu,  but  enters  and  lea\-es  the  valle>-  by  narrow  gorges.  Farther  northwest 
and  north  the  relief  decreases.  It  was  hereabouts  that  we  saw  the  first  of  the  loess 
drifts,  described  above. 


F.g.  43.- 


-A    Tarentass    at   a    Station    on    the  Post-road  between 
Vyemyi  and  Semipalatinsk. 


Fig.  46. — Rough  outline  of  the  Dsungarian  Ala-tau,  looking  south. 

On  the  third  morning  we  had  passed  the  western  end  of  the  Dsungarian  Ala- 
tau,  and  saw  it  to  the  south  of  Arasan  station  at  sunrise.  Its  sky  line  is  notably 
even,  although  the  northern  flank  is  deeply  carved,  as  in  fig.  46.  It  gains  greater 
height  and  greater  irregularity  to  the  east.  Between  Arasan  and  Abakumof  sta- 
tions we  crossed  a  branch  of  this  range  by  an  open  pass  at  about  4,000  feet  eleva- 
tion, an  easy  rise  from  the  south  being  followed  by  a  steeper  descent  for  the  better 


78 


EXPLORATIONS   IN    TURKESTAN. 


part  of  i,ooo  feet  to  the  north.  Here  one  of  the  hind  wheels  of  our  wagon  broke 
down,  and  we  had  leisure  to  look  about  while  the  postilion  rode  on  for  a  new  one. 
The  branch  range  was  composed  of  slates,  with  \-ertical  clea\age  striking  abotit 
east-west.  Its  sunnnit  was  a  broadly-rolling  upland  of  gentle  relief,  while  sharj)ly- 
cut  ravines  were  gnawing  into  its  steep  northern  slope.  When  we  had  ad\anced 
some  miles  across  the  broad  plain  north  of  the  range,  its  upland  was  seen  rising 
gradually  eastward  in  a  warped  slope.  Its  northern  face  was  finely  carved  in  sharp 
spurs  and  ravines.  Figure  47  is  hardly  more  than  a  diagram  of  these  features,  verj- 
hastily  sketched,  yet  it  presents  their  essential  character.  Nothing  but  uplift  and 
partial  dissection  of  a  peneplain  can  account  for  so  remarkable  a  contrast  of  old  and 
young  fonns.     The  plain  continued  till  nightfall,  with  small  change  of  fonn. 

The  fourth  da)-  opened  on  a  broad,  genth-  rolling  steppe,  stretching  from  Ashi- 
bulak  to  Arganatinskaj-a.  Occasional  outcrops  showed  at  first  a  crj-stalline  rock, 
then  a  belt  of  slaty  limestones,  and  finally  a  series  of  much  disturbed  slates.  Gray 
loess-like  silts,  with  angular  rock  scraps,  occupied  the  shallow  depressions.  A  lake 
a  few  miles  long  was  seen  to  the  east.    The  steppe,  as  a  whole,  was  sometimes  rather 


Fig.  47. — Rough  Sketch  of  a  Range  near  Abukumof  Station,  looking  south. 

too  uneven  to  be  called  a  peneplain,  although  certain  areas  fully  justified  that  term. 
The  sky  line  was  generally  of  moderate  irregularity,  and  the  galloping  pace  of  our 
horses  on  a  road  that  turned  but  little  for  mile  after  mile  testified  to  the  gentleness 
of  the  slopes.  The  low-arching  hills  seldom  deser\'ed  to  be  called  monadnocks,  except 
for  a  few  knobs  that  rose  over  a  broad  swell  in  the  belt  of  limestones  and  slates. 
Etj-mologists,  who  have  not  hesitated  to  give  our  language  the  word  "antepenult,"  as 
well  as  "penult,"  might  name  a  region  in  this  stage  of  degradation  an  "antepeneplain"; 
but  physiographers  do  not  yet  recognize  the  need  of  so  elaborate  a  term.  There 
was  the  appearance  of  a  general  and  gradual  rise  northward,  until  we  lost  sight  of 
the  upland  by  descending  a  narrow  and  winding  valley  worn  in  the  contorted  and 
jointed  slates  by  a  north-flowing  stream.  When  the  valley  had  gained  a  depth  of 
about  a  hundred  feet  it  suddenly  opened  upon  the  broad  plain  that  stretches  east- 
ward of  Lake  Balkash.  On  looking  back  toward  the  upland  we  saw  it  descend  to 
the  plain  by  a  low,  regular,  but  somewhat  dissected  escarpment.  A  gentle  slope  of 
slaty  gravel  stretched  a  short  distance  forward  from  the  escarpment  to  a  claj-  plain, 
varied  with  dust}-  dunes  and  marshy  swales  overgrown  with  reeds.  The  road  was 
ver}-  bad  here  in  sand  or  mire.  Nothing  that  could  be  called  an  old  shoreline  of 
Balkash  was  noted.  Toward  evening  we  saw  some  low  hills ;  the  plain  became  grav- 
elly, and  low  mounds  of  angular  slate  waste  suggested  that  the  rock  was  not  far 
below  the  surface.  The  road  at  once  improved,  and  in  the  night  we  had  the  best 
sleep  of  our  posting  trip. 


THE   STEPPE   OF    SEMIPALATINSK. 


79 


All  of  the  fifth  day  was  passed  on  a  rolling  steppe  (fig.  48).  In  the  morning, 
near  Sergiopol,  the  country  rock  was  granite,  but  the  relief  was  small.  The  up- 
lands stretched  broadly  between  the  shallow  valleys.  Once  the  road  led  through 
a  rather  narrow  transverse  \alley  in  a  low  swelling  ridge.  A  few  of  the  ridges 
might  be  called  mountains  in  a  flat  country,  but  they  hardly  deserve  so  strong  a 
name ;  even  the  highest  of  them  was  of  subdued  fonn.  Near  Arkut  station  we 
saw  the  only  sharp  form  of  the  da}'.  A  ragged  ridge,  300  or  400  feet  high,  was 
silhouetted  against  the  sunset  sky.  It  may  have  been  a  dike  of  more  resistant  rock 
than  that  on  either  side. 

The  peneplanation  of  the  region  improved  in  the  final  40  miles  of  the  road  on 
the  sixth  da)-.  In  the  morning  some  of  the  broad  ridges  of  steep-dipping  slates  and 
slaty  limestones,  trending  east  and  west,  were  from  300  to  500  feet  over  the  inter- 


Fig.  48. — The  Rolling  Steppe  north  o{  Sergiopol,  Semipalatinslc. 

vales,  but  the  latter  were  2  or  3  miles  wide.  In  the  afternoon  the  relief  decreased  ; 
low  mounds,  irregularly  distributed,  were  strewn  with  angular  scraps  of  quartz. 
The  sky  line  was  here  so  even  and  its  occasional  hills  were  so  faint  that  sketching 
could  do  little  justice  to  it.  For  some  miles  before  reaching  Semipalatinsk  the 
country  seemed  perfectly  le\'el. 

The  Irt}'sh  River  at  Semipalatinsk  occupies  a  good  part  of  a  valley  floor  that 
is  from  half  a  mile  to  a  mile  wide,  and  about  30  feet  below  the  surrounding  plain. 
The  valley  sides  disclose  \-ertical  beds  of  slate  and  sandstone,  with  strike  about  north 
'  and  south,  evenly  truncated  by  the  surface  of  the  plain  and  veneered  with  sand  and 
gravel,  in  which  occasional  boulders  up  to  2  feet  in  diameter  were  seen.  This 
district  shows  as  fine  an  example  of  a  low-lying  peneplain  as  I  have  ever  seen. 
The  vigorous  Irtysh  has  begun  the  dissection  of  the  plain ;  but  a  few  miles  from  the 
river  the  small  streams  still  lie  on  the  floor  of  the  broad  hollows  between  the  low 
ridges. 


8o  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

ORIGIN   OF   THE   EXISTING   RANGES   OF   THE   TIAN   SHAN. 

When  the  features  here  described  from  Son  Kul  to  Seniipalatinsk  are  con- 
sidered in  a  broad  way,  they  suggest  many  reflections  of  interest  in  theoretical 
geolog}-.  The  extended  occurrence  of  surfaces  of  small  relief,  indifferent  to  the 
rock  stnictures  which  they  tnincate,  implies  a  long  cycle  of  uninterrupted  degra- 
dation, continued  past  late  maturity,  even  to  old  age.  The  earlier  form  of  the 
eroded  region  may  well  have  been  motmtainous ;  witness  the  steep-dipping  or 
vertical  strata  seen  at  various  points,  as  well  as  the  occurrence  at  the  surface  of 
rocks  whose  origin  nuist  have  been  deep-seated,  like  granites.  The  agency  of 
erosion  was  not  the  sea,  of  whose  presence  in  modern  geological  time  the  region 
gives  no  indication  ;  nor  was  it  the  lateral  swinging  of  rivers,  as  Philippson  (1898) 
has  supposed  for  the  plains  of  central  European  Russia,  for  the  eroded  surface  fre- 
quently possesses  a  minor  relief  that  is  inconsistent  with  such  a  process  of  planation. 
The  various  processes  of  subaerial  erosion,  of  which  the  swinging  river  is  but  one, 
best  explain  the  widespread  peneplanation  here  obser\-ed. 

Although  the  peneplain  was  not  observed  by  any  means  continiiously  from 
Son  Kul  to  Seniipalatinsk,  there  is  good  ground  for  thinking  that  it  once  stretched 
as  an  almost  continuous  lowland,  interrupted  only  by  residual  ranges,  over  all 
this  distance,  and  indeed  over  still  greater  distances  ;  for  it  is  not  reasonable  to 
believe  that  a  cycle  of  erosion  which  sufficed  to  develop  a  peneplain  even  on  granitic 
rocks  should  find  other  rocks  resistant  enough  to  maintain  a  great  relief,  unless, 
indeed,  tiplift  came  to  aid  resistance.  There  is,  however,  no  direct  evidence  of 
uplift  during  the  cycle  of  peneplanation.  Where  great  relief  occurs  in  the  region 
to-day,  it  is  accompanied  b}-  the  suggestion  of  uplift  after  peneplanation — or,  at 
least,  after  a  ver}-  late  mature  stage  of  erosion — had  already-  been  reached.  Witness 
the  peaks  of  the  Dongus-tau  below  the  westward  prolongation  of  the  highland 
surface  of  the  Bural-bas-tau,  or  the  peaks  of  the  central  Kungei  Ala-tan  below  the 
eastward  prolongation  of  the  even  crest  in  the  western  part  of  the  same  range.  If 
certain  ranges  do  not  to-day  present  such  evidence  of  a  former  c3-cle  of  erosion,  it 
is  more  consistent  with  the  general  features  of  the  region  and  with  the  general 
principles  of  mountain  sculpture  to  suppose  that  they  have  lost  the  e\-idence  than 
that  they  have  never  had  it. 

This  conclusion,  based  on  my  own  observations,  is  strongh-  supported  b)'  the 
observations  made  independently  by  Mr.  Huntington  and  presented  in  the  report 
on  his  Kashgar  journey.  He  describes  large  highland  areas  of  the  Tian  Shan 
between  Issik  Kul  and  Kashgar  as  broadly  uplifted  peneplains,  here  and  there 
bearing  subdued  mountains,  the  whole  being  in  process  of  revived  erosion.  He 
therefore  names  the  region  "  the  Tian  Shan  plateau."  It  is,  as  he  happily  phrases  it, 
not  actually  but  only  potentially  mountainous.  Previous  observers  hsLxe  recognized 
the  plateau-like  highlands  of  the  Tian  Shan,  but  most  of  them  do  not  seem  to  have 
recognized  their  meaning.  Roborovsky,  reporting  on  an  expedition  led  by  Piev- 
tsoff"  in  1889,  briefly  describes  a  high  plateau,  between  Issik  Kul  and  the  Tarim 
basin,  called  the  Syrt,  100  miles  wide,  and  at  an  altitude  of  10,000  or  11,000  feet. 
"  Scattered  over  it  are  separate  mountain  groups  and  ridges,  running  east  and  west" 
(1890,  23).     St  Ives,  who  crossed  this  region  later,  says  that  it  is  an  immense 


PENEPLAINS    IN    THE   TIAN    SHAN.  8l 

plateau,  known  to  the  Kirghiz  as  the  "  Arpa,"  3,000  meters  in  altitude,  overlooked 
by  serrated  ranges  and  traversed  by  low  hills  (1900,  125).  Alinasy,  who  traveled 
somewhat  farther  east  in  1900,  gives  "syrt"  as  the  Kirghiz  name  of  the  plateau, 
which  he  describes  as  occupied  by  highland  meadows  (1901,  254).  In  Friedrich- 
sen's  thorough  review  of  all  that  has  been  written  about  these  mountains,  there 
is  no  clear  statement  concerning  the  plateau-like  quality  of  the  inner  region  ;  but 
it  may  be  inferred  from  the  statement  that  the  general  law  of  vertical  relief  in 
the  Tian  Shan  is  an  increase  of  absolute  height  accompanied  by  a  decrease  of 
relative  height  in  passing  from  north  to  south  (1899,  209).  In  Friedrich sen's 
account  of  his  own  exploration,  however,  there  is  an  explicit  statement.  He  trav- 
ersed the  syrt  or  highland  southeast  of  Issik  Kul  at  an  altitude  of  3,000  meters,  and 
found  it  to  be  an  extended,  gently  inclined  plain  in  which  the  granite,  gneiss,  and 
steep  clay  slates  are  broadh-  tnmcated,  above  which  the  snowy  ranges  (4,000  meters) 
rise  with  relatively  small  relief,  and  below  which  deep,  canyon-like  valleys  are  eroded 
by  the  Sary-jass  River  and  its  tributaries.  He  recognized  it  to  be  a  "  Denudations- 
flache"  or  peneplain  (1903,  99). 

The  deformation  that  the  great  peneplain  has  suffered  in  that  part  of  its  area 
which  is  now  mountainous  seems  to  have  involved  late  or  post-TertiarA-  movements 
of  relativel)-  local  uplift,  as  in  the  Bural-bas-tau ;  or  of  much  broader  uplift,  as  south 
of  Issik  Kul ;  or  of  moderate  warping,  as  in  the  branch  of  the  Dsungarian  Ala-tan ; 
or  of  block  faulting  and  tilting,  as  about  the  west  end  of  Issik  Kul.  This  is  consistent 
with  the  account  of  the  Tian  Shan  furnished  to  Suess  by  Mushketof,  in  which  it  is 
stated  that  the  earlier  deformation  of  these  mountains  was  not  before  the  Trias,  and 
that  the  final  configuration  of  the  ranges  was  given  in  post-Tertiary-  time.  The 
latter  statement  is  based  on  the  occurrence  of  Tertiar}-  strata  at  great  altittides,  no 
mention  being  made  of  the  evidence  from  peneplanation   (Suess,  1897,  i,  619). 

It  is  noteworthy  that  there  is  no  general  evidence  of  crustal  compression  in  the 
later  defonnation  that  the  Tian  Shan  seems  to  have  suffered.  True,  the  vertical 
strata  and  the  \-ertical  cleavage  of  slates  impl\-  that  the  region  suffered  a  strong 
compression  in  some  time  previous  to  peneplanation ;  but  the  existing  Tian  Shan 
ranges,  so  far  as  they  are  described,  are  not  the  result  of  that  ancient  compression. 
They  are  due  to  a  later  system  of  defonnation  that  gives  little  evidence  of  com- 
pression. The  contrast  between  the  earlier  Tian  Shan  s)stem  and  the  present 
ranges  is  similar  to  that  pointed  out  by  Ciilbert  between  the  Appalachians  and  the 
Basin  ranges  of  Utah  and  Nevada : 

In  the  Appalachians  corrugation  'has  been  produced  commonly  by  folding,  exceptionally  by 
faulting;  in  the  Basin  ranges,  commonly  by  faulting,  exceptionally  by  flexure.  The  regular  alter- 
nation of  curved  synclinals  and  anticlinals  is  contrasted  with  rigid  lx)dies  of  inclined  strata,  bounded 
by  faults.  The  former  demand  the  assumption  of  great  horizontal  diminution  of  the  space  covered 
by  the  .disturbed  strata,  and  suggest  lateral  pressure  as  the  immediate  force  concerned;  the  latter 
involve  little  horizontal  diminution,  and  suggest  the  application  of  vertical  pressure  from  below. 
*  *  *  In  the  case  of  the  Appalachians  the  primary  phenomena  are  superficial;  in  that  of  the  Basin 
ranges  they  are  deep-seated,  the  superficial  being  secondary;  that  sucJi  a  force  as  has  crowded 
together  the  strata  of  the  Appalachians — whatever  may  have  been  its  source — ^lias  acted  in  the 
ranges  on  some  portion  of  the  earth's  crust  beneath  the  immediate  surface ;  and  the  upper  strata, 
continually  adapting  tliemselves,  under  gravity,  to  the  inequalities  of  the  lower,  have  assumed  the 
forms  we  see  (1875,  61,  62). 


82  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

It  therefore  does  not  seem  advisable  to  adduce  the  Tian  Shan  ranges  in  ilhistra- 
tion  of  the  direct  action  of  a  "  tanefcntial  movement,"  as  has  been  done  by  Sness 
(1897,  i,  619)  on  the  basis  of  Mnshketof's  description.  It  is  tnily  possible  that 
compression  may  have  had  .some  share  in  producing  the  existing  disordered  attitude 
of  the  mountain  blocks,  for  folds  of  late  or  post-Tertiary  date  occur  in  the  Narin 
fonnation,  as  is  further  stated  below ;  but  the  share  that  compression  had  in  raising 
the  block  ranges  is  so  problematic  that  it  should  not  to-day  be  accepted  as  an 
established  fact,  and  still  less  should  it  be  emploj-ed  as  the  base  of  further  theoretical 
considerations. 

THE  BEARING  OF  THE  TIAN  SHAN  RANGES  ON  THE  THEORY  OF  HORSTS. 

The  Bural-bas-tau  and  its  fellows  deser\'e  special  consideration  in  connection 
with  the  theor)'  of  the  origin  of  horsts,  or  upstanding  crustal  blocks,  as  set  forth 
by  Sness,  who  regards  such  horsts  as  stationary  parts  of  the  earth's  crust,  with 
respect  to  which  the  surrounding  lower  land  has  sunk  (1897,  i,  263,  774,  777,  782). 
The  evidence  for  this  conclusion  is  chiefly  that  "we  know  of  no  force  whatever  that 
is  capable  of  uplifting  from  below,  between  two  plane  surfaces,  large  or  small 
mountainous  masses,  and  of  maintaining  them  pennanently  in  such  a  situation, 
against  the  action  of  gravity"  (1897,  i,  782;  also  775).  This  conclusion  and  the 
reason  for  it  both  seem  to  me  to  place  too  high  a  value  upon  what  we  do  not  know. 
It  is,  of  course,  conceivable  that  horsts  have  stood  still  while  the  surrounding  lands 
have  sunk  down,  but  it  is  also  conceivable  that  the  horsts  have  been  raised,  while 
the  surrounding  lands  have  remained  stationar)- ;  that  the  horsts  have  risen  and  the 
surrounding  lands  have  sunk ;  and  that  both  have  risen,  the  horsts  more  than  the 
rest,  under  conditions  suggested  by  the  citation  from  Gilbert,  above  made.  The 
last  supposition  seems  eminently  applicable  to  the  Tian  Shan.  Direct  observation 
seldom,  if  ever,  furnishes  evidence  by  which  one  can  choose  among  these  various 
mechanical  possibilities.  In  the  case  of  the  Tian  Shan  there  is  certainly  not 
enough  now  known  concerning  the  attitudes  of  the  faxdt  planes  b}-  which  various 
blocks  are  divided  to  make  it  worth  while  to  discuss  this  recondite  aspect  of  the 
problem.  As  to  the  way  in  which  blocks  of  the  earth's  crust  might  be  dislocated 
into  irregular  attitudes,  we  can  conceive  of  many  theoretical  processes,  every  one  of 
which  is  permissible  in  the  presence  of  our  abimdant  ignorance  of  the  constitution 
and  behavior  of  the  earth's  interior.  It  seems,  therefore,  unsafe  to-day  to  exclude  all 
other  processes  than  direct-acting  gravity  from  a  share  in  the  production  of  horsts. 
Forces  of  uplift  are  still  worthy  of  consideration.  In  such  a  problem  it  seems  better 
to  open  the  mind  as  freely  as  possible  to  reasonable  speculation,  rather  than  to  restrain 
its  inventive  powers.  Deep-seated  movements  of  the  earth's  core,  possibly  due  to 
deep-seated  compression,  may  cause  local  internal  up-swelling,  over  which  the  heavy- 
lying  crust  is  broken  and  irregularly  jostled  in  mountain  blocks.  It  is  this  sup- 
position that  is  entertained  in  Gilbert's  suggestion  as  to  the  origin  of  the  Basin 
ranges  of  Utah  and  Nevada,  above  cited ;  but  neither  the  supposition  of  local  jost- 
ling and  uplift  within  a  surrounding  region  of  relative  stability,  nor  the  counter 


THE   UPLIFT   OF   THE   TIAN    SHAN.  83 

supposition  of  local  stability  within  a  surrounding  region  of  depression,  can  to-day- 
be  regarded  as  established  for  the  Tian  Shan. 

It  may,  however,  be  pointed  out  that  Suess's  view  as  to  the  stability  of  horsts 
involves  extreme  measures  of  the  diminution  of  terrestrial  volume.  When  the 
highland  of  the  Bural-bas-tau  is  recognized  as  a  fragment  of  a  central  Asiatic  pene- 
plain, it  must  be  recognized  as  having  once  stood  not  much  above  sea  level ;  and  if 
8,000  or  10,000  feet  out  of  its  present  total  altitude  of  12,000  or  13,000  feet  result 
from  the  depression  of  the  Siberian  part  of  the  Asiatic  peneplain,  then  all  the 
oceans  and  all  the  continents  of  the  world  must  have  gone  down  with  the  Siberian 
area,  except  for  such  highlands,  if  any,  that  held  their  own  with  the  Bural-bas-tau. 
This  seems  to  call  upon  a  very  large  mechanism  to  produce  a  relatively  small 
result.  Not  only  so.  The  plateau  of  northern  Arizona,  in  which  the  young  canyon 
of  the  Colorado  River  is  cut,  owes  its  altitude,  by  Suess's  theor)-,  to  the  depression 
of  the  Great  Basin  region  to  the  west  of  the  plateau ;  but  this  plateau  is  also  a  pene- 
plain, as  Dutton  has  shown,  hence  not  only  the  lower  land  to  the  west  of  it  went 
down,  but  again  all  the  oceans  and  all  the  continents  as  well,  and  this  time  the 
Bural-bas-tau  with  the  rest — unless,  indeed,  the  depressions  of  the  surrounding 
regions,  by  which  the  Bural-bas-tau  and  the  plateaus  of  northern  Arizona  were  left 
in  relief,  both  occurred  at  the  same  time.  In  the  latter  case  we  have  onl}'  to  con- 
sider one  of  the  many  other  more  or  less  dissected  peneplains,  that  of  southern 
New  England,  for  example;  all  of  these  can  not  possibly  have  been  left  standing  by  a 
single  movement  of  depression,  because  their  present  stage  of  dissection  is  so 
unlike.  It  thus  appears  that,  according  to  Suess's  theory,  the  diminution  of  the 
the  terrestrial  radius  at  any  point  ma}-  be  measured  (if  we  neglect  the  altitude  above 
sea  level  at  which  peneplains  are  formed)  by 

the  sum  of  all  the  non-synchronous  depressions  b}-  which 
the  horsts  of  peneplains  have  been  left  in  relief, 

Diinns  the  altitude  that  a  peneplain  (if  one  occurs)  happens  to  have 
at  the  point  of  measurement. 

As  said  above,  there  may  be  no  evidence  by  which  the  theory  that  leads  to 
this  conclusion  can  be  absoluteh'  proved  or  disproved,  but  the  conclusion  is  a  curi- 
ous one,  and  as  long  as  it  is  ba.sed  chiefly  on  our  ignorance  of  the  earth's  internal 
mechanism,  it  can  hardh-  have  general  acceptance.  It  does  not  appear  clearl\-  from 
Suess's  work  whether  he  recognizes  the  necessity  of  this  conclusion  or  not,  for  he 
does  not  seem  to  take  account  of  the  altitude  that  the  surfaces  of  horsts  had  with 
respect  to  sea  level  before  they  were  isolated  by  dislocation.  Indeed,  his  study  of 
the  Face  of  the  Earth  takes  relatively  little  account  of  erosion.  One  finds,  how- 
ever, an  indication  of  the  acceptance  of  great  changes  in  sea  level  in  such  sentences 
as  the  following:  "I  hope  to  be  able  to  show  that  there  is  ground  for  correcting 
more  than  one  general!)-  accepted  opinion  as  to  the  position  of  the  le\-el  of  the  sea 
at  epochs  anterior  to  ours"  (1897,  i,  782).  It  will  be  a  matter  of  interest  to  see 
how  far  problems  of  this  sort  are  treated  in  the  final  volume  of  Das  Autlitz  der 
Erde. 


84 


EXn.ORATTONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


GLACIAL  RECORDS  IN  THE  TIAN  SHAN. 


Russian  explorers  of  the  Tian  Shan  liave  discovered  many  glaciers  in  its  hijifher 
ranji^es  and  have  mentioned  the  occurrence  of  al^andoned  moraines  lower  down  the 
vallejs,  but  as  far  as  I  have  read  there  has  been  little  study  given  to  the  subdivisions 
of  the  glacial  period.  To  this  latter  subject,  therefore,  we  ga\-e  chief  attention 
while  we  were  in  the  higher  mountains.  The  strong  ranges  between  Issik  Kul  and 
Kasgliar  contain  a  much  fnier  development  of  abandoned  moraines  than  any  of 
the  ranges  that  we  saw  between  Andizhan  and  Issik  Kul.  The  problem  of  succes- 
sive glacial  epochs  is,  therefore,  much  more  fully  treated  in  Mr.  Huntington's 
report  than  here. 


Fig.  49.— The  Chalai  Range  from  Kum-ashu  Pass  in  the  Kok-tal  Range,  looking  norlh;  a  large  old  Moraine 
advances  to  the  left,  behind  the  dark  spur.  The  crest  of  the  Chalai  Range  is  dimmed  by  clouds. 


MORAINES    NEAR    SON    KUL. 

Although  we  recognized  the  occurrence  of  glacial  cirques  at  a  distance  in 
several  high  ranges,  the  first  moraines  that  we  came  upon  were  in  the  mountains 
south  and  northeast  of  Sou  Kul.  Those  in  the  north-opening  valleys  of  the  Uougus- 
tau  range,  south  of  the  lake,  were  of  small  size  at  altitudes  about  10,500  feet ;  the 
range  summits  seemed  1,000  or  2,000  feet  higher.  The  glaciated  troughs  on  the 
southwest  side  of  the  Kok-tal  range,  northeast  of  the  lake,  8  or  10  miles  from  its 
outlet,  were  recognized  in  the  distance.  On  riding  and  walking  up  to  them  in  the 
afternoon,  we  found  a  well-defined  moraine,  with  mounds  and  bowlders,  kettles  and 


GLACIAL    RECORDS    IN    THE   TIAN    SHAN. 


85 


ponds,  crossed  bj-  a  cascading  stream  at  about  10,500  feet,  in  a  valley  that  had 
received  the  confluent  glaciers  from  two  troughs.  The  glacier  from  the  larger 
trough  must  have  been  2  miles  long.  In  the  next  trough  to  the  west,  the  glacier 
seems  to  have  been  smaller.  No  strong  moraine  was  seen  there.  Further  down 
the  valleys  there  were  smooth  hills  which  we  did  not  at  the  time  take  for  moraines, 
but  in  the  light  of  what  was  seen  later,  I  am  now  disposed  to  regard  them  as 
weathered  and  rounded  morainesof  early  origin.  It  was  on  the  sides  of  these  smooth 
hills  that  we  saw  the  old  irrigating  canals,  to  be  described  in  a  later  section.  The 
glacial  troughs,  higher  up  the  mountain,  were  of  wide  open,  steep-sided,  U-shaped 
form,  eroded  in  the  slanting  granite  highland  already  described. 

When  descending  from  the  Kum-ashu  pass  in  the  Kok-tal  range,  we  .saw  to 
the  north  a  large  moraine  beneath  a  glaciated  vallc)-  of  the  Chalai  range  (Jumgal- 
tau  on  Stieler's  map,  sheet  62),  beyond  the  Tuluk-su  (fig.  49).  The  glacier  that 
made  this  moraine  must  have  been  3  or  4  miles  long,  heading  in  three  cirques 
beneath  the  sharp  peaks  and  aretes.  On  going  up  to  the  moraine  the  next  morning, 
we  .saw  a  second  and  larger  one,  which  j\Ir.  Huntington  examined,  about  2  miles 


Fig.  50. — Moraine  in  the  Tuluk  Valley,  looking  west. 

to  the  west.  In  both  cases  the  large  moraines  were  of  well-rounded  forms,  with 
few  surface  bowlders  and  without  distinct  mounds  or  kettles,  and  the  stream  that 
issued  from  them  had  a  well-opened  valley  with  something  of  a  graded  and  flood- 
planed  floor.  Moreo\er,  the  main ;\alley  seemed  to  ha\e  been  significanth-  deepened 
by  the  Tuluk-su  since  the  moraine  was  laid  in  it ;  and  certainly  some  of  the  spurs 
on  the  south  side  of  the  main  vallej-  had  lost  their  ends  by  the  undercutting  of  the 
Tuluk,  which  the  moraines  had  pushed  against  them,  as  shown  in  fig.  50  ;  but  the 
facets  thus  eroded  on  the  spurs  had  roughly  graded  slopes,  thus  indicating  that  a 
considerable  time  had  passed  since  the  undercutting  began.  The  other  valley-side 
spurs  showed  no  such  facets,  but  tapered  down  to  the  valley  floor.  Within  each  of 
these  large  weathered  moraines  we  found  smaller  moraines  of  much  sharper  and 
fresher  form  (fig.  51) ;  their  irregular  mounds  and  ridges  strewn  with  bowlders,  their 
kettles  holding  small  ponds,  and  their  streams  cascading  in  narrow  courses.  The 
youngest  moraine  ended  about  in  line  with  the  north  rock  wall  of  the  main  valley. 
This  seemed  to  be  a  moraine  of  recession  from  a  larger  group  of  more  advanced 
morainic  loops.  The  time  inter\'al  of  the  retreat  here  indicated  must  have  been 
short  compared  to  the  time  that  has  elapsed  since  the  larger  moraine  was  formed. 


86 


EXPLORATIONS    IN   TURKESTAN. 


MORAINES    IN   THE    TERSKEI    ALA-TAU. 

When  we  reached  the  southwest  shore  of  Issik  Kul  (July  14),  the  snowy 
summits  of  the  Terskei  Ala-tau  were  seen  to  the  south ;  so  we  crossed  the  outer, 
lower  ranges  from  the  delta  to  the  upper  valley  of  the  Ula-khol,  and  there  at  once 
came  upon  an  interesting  group  of  moraines. 

The  first  moraines  seen  (M,  fig.  43)  were  in  a  longitudinal  valley  at  the 
northern  base  of  the  Terskei  Ala-tau,  about  3  miles  to  the  southeast  of  the  head  of 
the  Ula-khol  gorge  in  the  outer  range.     They  had  been  formed  by  a  glacier  or 


Fig.  51. — A  Young  Moraine  within  the  Old  Moraine  in  the  Chalai  Range,  looking  north. 

glaciers  that  descended  northward  from  the  Kashga  and  Tnra  side  valleys,  and  stood 
at  an  altitude  of  somewhat  over  7,000  feet.  Their  Iiills  were  delicately  rounded  ; 
the  streams  had  eroded  open-floored  valleys  acro.ss  the  morainic  belt ;  no  undrained 
basins  remained  ;  some  hillocks  were  isolated,  as  if  the  valley-floor  gravels  had  been 
aggraded  around  them.  The  materials  of  the  moraine  were,  as  a  rule,  unweathered, 
but  we  found  in  fre.sh-cut  banks  a  few  stones  decomposed  to  a  friable  condition. 

About  2  miles  to  the  south,  and  at  an  estimated  elevation  of  between  8,500 
and  9,000  feet,  another  moraine  was  seen  in  the  Kashga  \'alley.  This  was  judged 
to  be  much  younger,  as  seen  in  the  distance,  because  the  stream  had  cut  onl)-  a 
narrow  trench  through  it. 


GLACIAL   RECORDS    IN    THE   TIAN    SHAN.  87 

In  the  afternoon  of  Jtily  16  we  went  8  or  10  miles  southwest  of  the  head  of 
the  Ula-khol  gorge,  following  the  main  stream  west  and  south  into  the  moimtains, 
and  hoping  to  reach  the  valle}-s  beneath  the  highest  peak  that  we  had  seen  from 
the  lake  shore  ;  ])Ut  it  proved  that  we  were  not  far  enough  west ;  and  that  bane  of 
reconnaissance  work,  the  lack  of  time,  prevented  our  going  farther.  We  found, 
however,  at  the  mouth  of  a  branch  valley  from  the  southeast  a  large,  rounded 
morainic  mass,  similar  in  fonn  and  apparent  age  to  those  we  had  seen  in  the  Tuluk 
Valley.  A  younger  moraine  was  seen  farther  np  the  glaciated  trough,  in  whose 
steep  southern  wall  two  hanging  cirques  opened.  A  terrace  occurs  in  the  main 
valley  in  association  with  the  larger  moraine.  It  was  continued  upstream  as  far  as 
we  could  see,  and  there  it  was  a  hundred  or  more  feet  above  the  stream.  It  was 
distinctly  traceable  for  half  a  mile  down  the  valley,  though  with  rapidly  diminish- 
ing height  in  that  direction ;  farther  down  it  was  preserved  only  in  small  reinnants, 
and  no  signs  of  it  were  found  in  the  longitudinal  valley.  Aggradation  of  the 
terrace  seems  to  have  been  contemporaneous  with  the  growth  of  the  moraine,  and 
the  trenching  and  removal  of  the  terrace  with  the  weathering  and  rounding  of  the 
moraine.  The  moraine  is  thus  doubly  shown  to  be  of  considerable  antiquity. 
This  is  confinned  by  finding  that  the  terrace  floor  has  been  aggraded  by  wash  from 
the  moimtain  sides,  so  that  it  now  has  a  distinct  slope  toward  the  valley  axis, 
instead  of  only  a  slope  down  the  valley,  as  is  habitual  with  young  terraces.  Two 
other  old-looking  moraines  were  seen  ;  one  of  them  up  the  valley  to  the  southwest, 
the  other  up  a  branch  valley  to  the  east. 

MORAINES   IN   THE    KUNGEI   ALA-TAU. 

As  the  Kuugei  Ala-tau  rises  eastward  along  the  north  side  of  Issik  Kul,  the  even 
crest  line  with  which  it  begins  is  more  and  more  dissected.  Before  the  middle  of 
the  lake  is  reached  the  range  has  gained  sharp  Alpine  fonns.  A  glacier  was  .seen 
high  up  among  the  summits,  from  near  Tur-aigir  station  ;  and  a  few  miles  north  of 
Choktal  station  there  seemed  to  be  a  moraine  lying  somewhat  forward  from  the 
mouth  of  a  valley,  on  the  upper  part  of  the  piedmont  slope,  about  1,500  feet  over 
the  lake,  or  at  an  altitude  of  6,700  feet.  Further  reference  will  be  made  to  this 
moraine  in  connection  with  Lake  Issik  Kul.  Severtzof  mentions  what  he  takes  to 
be  a  moraine  lying  on  "lake  beds"  on  the  south  side  of  Issik  Kul  (1875,  32). 

The  ascent  from  the  Russian  village  of  Sazanovka,  near  the  lake  shore,  north- 
ward toward  Sutto-bulak  pass,  in  our  unsuccessful  attempt  to  cross  it,  carried  us 
past  what  seemed  to  be  an  old,  dissected  moraine  on  the  east  side  of  the  Ok-su 
Valley,  at  an  altitude  of  7,000  feet.  Farther  up  a  branch  valley  we  came  to  a  well- 
defined  moraine  whose  lower  end  stands  at  about  9,000  feet,  and  whose  western 
lateral  ridge  is  200  or  300  feet  high.  It  is  rather  sharply  trenched  by  the  valle)- 
stream.  The  glacier  that  made  this  moraine  nuist  have  been  at  least  3  miles  long. 
We  followed  the  vallc)-  nearly  to  its  head  in  our  cfibrt  to  cross  the  pa.ss,  .seeing  a 
niunber  of  cirques  on  either  side,  inclosed  by  sharpened  aretes  (fig.  52).  A  small 
glacier  occupied  the  head  of  the  valle\-  for  half  a  mile  or  more  at  a  height  of  about 


88 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


11,300  feet.  A  small  recent  moraine  lay  about  300  feet  forward  from  the  end  of 
the  glacier ;  a  larger  one,  holding  a  .small  frozen  lake  in  its  hollow,  wa.s  a  half  mile 
farther  forward.  There  was  too  mucli  snow  on  the  ground  just  in  front  of  the 
glacier  to  judge  whether  it  was  advancing  or  retreating  at  the  time  of  our  visit. 


SUBDIVISION    OF    THE    GLACI.VI.    I'ERIOD. 


The  few  exam])les  above  described  of  moraines  of  different  ages  suffice  to 
suggest,  but  not  to  demonstrate,  a  subdivision  of  the  glacial  period,  as  it  affected  the 
Tian  Shan  Mountains.  The  many  additional  examples  of  more  complicated  series 
of  moraines  in  the  valleys  below  tlie  higher  ranges  south  of  Issik  Kul,  afterward 


Fig.  52. — Snowfield  below  Sulto-bulak  Pass  in  ihe  Kungei  Ala-tau,  looking  southwest ;  a  Cirque  in  the  background. 

examined  by  Mr.  Huntington,  were  fortunateh'  more  explicit  in  their  testimony, 
and  leave  no  doubt  that  the  glacial  period  there,  as  elsewhere,  was  not  a  single 
climatic  epoch,  but  a  succession  of  epochs,  and  that  the  different  epochs  were  of 
different  intensities.  It  is  important,  as  Mr.  Huntington  points  out  in  his  report, 
to  bear  in  mind  that  the  actual  succession  of  glacial  epochs  was  in  all  probability 
more  complicated  than  the  exi.sting  records  directh'  indicate.  It  tnily  seems  po.ssi- 
ble,  in  our  present  ignorance  as  to  the  cause  of  glaciation,  that  four  or  five  glacial 
epochs  of  progressively  decreasing  intensitv  and  duration  might  constitute  the 
whole  of  the  glacial  period;  but  it  is  eminently  prolxible  that  the  first  epoch  was 
not  the  severest  one,  and  that  the  record  of  earlier  epochs  of  small  intensity  might 
be  destroyed  by  the  work  of  later  and  more  intense  glacial  epochs.     We  therefore 


GLACIAL    EROSION    IN    THE    HIGHER    RANGES.  89 

have  again  a  case,  like  the  one  already  considered  in  connection  with  the  terraced 
valleys  of  the  Kopet-Dagh,  of  a  series  of  decreasing  maximum  records,  before  and 
between  which  a  number  of  minimum  records  ma}-  have  been  made,  only  to  be 
destroyed  by  the  next  stronger  record.  The  preservation  of  four  or  five  records 
makes  it  probable  that  the  total  number  of  glacial  epochs  in  the  Tian  Shan  was  as 
many  as  six,  eight,  or  ten. 

We  fully  concur  with  earlier  observers  to  the  effect  that  there  are  no  indica- 
tions of  general  glaciation  in  the  region  that  we  crossed. 

GLACIAL   EROSION   IN   THE    HIGHER   RANGES. 

This  excursion  across  the  Tian  Shan  gave  me  the  first  opportunity  of  seeing 
high  mountains  since  reading  Richter's  Geomorphologische  Untersuchnngen  in  der 
Hochalpen  (1900).  I  therefore  gave  especial  attention  to  the  form  of  the  mountains 
to  determine  how  far  Richter's  thesis  holds  good  as  to  the  action  of  glaciers  in 
sharpening  the  peaks  and  crests  by  causing  the  retreat  of  cirque  walls.  There  was 
repeated  occasion  to  test  the  thesis,  and  it  seemed  to  hold  good  in  every  case. 

The  Kugart  pass,  over  10,000  feet  in  altitude,  and  with  the  higher  summits  of 
the  Fergana  range  on  either  side,  presented  no  sign  of  glaciation.  It  is  possible 
that  some  cirques  occur  not  far  to  the  southeast,  but  clouds  covered  the  mountains 
too  heavily  in  that  direction  at  the  time  of  our  crossing  to  make  sure.  All  the 
mountain  forms  by  the  pass  were  the  result  of  the  normal  processes  of  erosion. 
The  ridges  were  all  dominated  by  the  down-slope  lines  of  creeping  and  washing ; 
and  all  the  down-slope  lines,  decreasing  in  declivity  as  they  were  followed,  combined 
in  an  elaborate  branch-work  system,  adjacent  lines  alwa}-s  meeting  in  accordant 
grade  at  their  innumerable  points  of  junction.  In  other  words,  the  ridges  were 
maturely  dissected.  As  seen  in  profile,  the  down-slope  lines  had  relatively  little 
variety.  Except  for  a  small  convexity  near  and  at  the  crests,  they  were  concave  to 
the  sky,  and  were  systematically  of  decreasing  slope  downward  through  all  their 
length,  from  mountain  top  far  down  the  valley.  This  was  particularly  true  for  the 
stream  lines  of  the  many  ravines  which  gather  water  and  waste  from  the  sides  of 
their  inclosing  spurs,  and  which  were  prevailingly  graded  along  their  courses.  It 
was  true,  also,  to  a  remarkable  degree  for  the  waste-stream  lines  on  the  spur  slopes, 
which  were  broken  only  by  scattered  outcrops  of  the  stronger  rock  masses,  and  then 
only  to  a  moderate  amount.  Here  and  there  patches  of  hackly,  ungraded  ledges 
stood  forth,  not  >et  reduced  to  order;  but  on  the  whole  the  graded  down-slope  lines 
were  remarkably  well  developed.  The  variety  of  these  lines  was  shown  in  their 
plan  rather  than  in  their  profile,  and  even  in  plan  their  variety  is  sj-stematic. 
The  stream  lines  branch  over  and  over  again,  as  they  are  followed  uphill,  and 
the  spurs  are  split  repeatedly  by  the  large  and  small  ravines  that  fork  beneath 
them ;  but  that  is  all.  When  the  mountains  are  looked  at  hastily  their  variety  of 
form  seems  confused,  but  when  the  fonns  are  more  patiently  analyzed  their  \-ariety 
is  seen  to  result  almost  entirely  from  small  changes  on  a  simple  scheme,  and  even,' 
element  of  form  finds  its  explanation  in  the  processes  of  nonnal  erosion  carried  to 
a  mature  stage. 


90 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


The  crest  lines  of  the  nonnally  carved  mature  ridges  are  rather  sharp  and 
somewhat  serrate.  The  slight  convexity  of  the  slope  lines  as  they  reach  the  crest 
shows  that  those  processes  of  weathering  in  which  changes  of  volume  act  nearly 
nonnally  outwards  from  the  weathered  surface  there  have  a  relati\-el}-  large  share, 
along  with  gravitative  down-slope  washing,  in  the  reduction  of  the  mountain  mass. 

This  systematic  coml)ination  of  nonnally  eroded  fonns  was  seen  not  only 
about  Kugart  pass,  but  in  various  other  ranges,  and  in  var)'ing  degrees  of  develop- 
ment; but  many  of  the  liigher  ranges  exhibited  fonns  of  another  kind,  imposed, 
as  it  were,  upon  the  nonnal  fonns  of  the  valley  heads ;  and  as  these  additional 
fonns  were,  in  all  cases  where  they  could  be  closely  examined,  sj'stematically  asso- 
ciated with  moraines,  they  may  at  once  be  ascribed  to  glacial  erosion  and  called 
glacial  fonns.  The  glacial  fonns  are  no  novelty ;  they  are  well  known  in  other 
mountains.  They  are  described  here  merely  to  show  how  systematically  they 
repeat  the  features  of  similar  fonns  seen  elsewhere.  Their  most  significant  features 
are  as  follows :  They  occur  at  great  altitudes,  such  as  8,000  feet,  in  ranges  that 
rise  to  still  greater  altitudes,  such 
as  12,000  feet  or  more.  They  are 
independent  of  rock  structures. 
When  considered  in  profile  they 
involve  a  double  change  of  slope 
from  that  of  nonnal  fonns.  If 
ABC  (fig  53)  represents  a  nor- 
mal slope,  a  glaciated  slope,  DEB, 
is  steeper  than  nonnal  in  the 
upper  part,  D  E,  and  less  steep 
than  normal  in  the  lower  part, 
E  B.      The  steeper  upper  slope, 

D  E,  may  be  sunnounted  by  a  less  steep  slope,  A  D,  or  it  may  rise  directly  to  the 
crest  line.  When  two  such  slopes  meet,  back  to  back,  the  crest  is  an  unusually 
sharp  and  serrate  arete.  The  lower  slope,  E  B,  may  be  hollowed  to  a  basin  form. 
When  considered  in  plan,  the  glacial  forms  are  simpler  than  the  nonnal  fonns 
that  they  have  replaced,  for  they  involve 
the  substitution  of  a  single  broad-floored 
concave  fonn  for  a  number  of  inter- 
locking ravines  and  spurs.  When  two 
simple  fonns  of  this  kind  are  associated, 
the  smaller  one  may  open  its  floor  in 
the  wall  of  the  larger  one,  so  that  the 
two  floors  do  not  join  at  accordant  grade. 
Glaciated  valle}'  heads  are  so  well  defined  that  they  have  received  a  special  name 
from  mountaineers  in  different  countries — cirque  and  kar  in  the  Alps,  botn  in 
Norway,  rMm  in  Wales,  corrie  in  Scotland.  All  these  features  have  been  abundantly 
described  by  various  writers — Bohm,  Richter,  De  Martonne,  Marker,  Johnson, 
Gannett,  Gilbert,  L,awson,  to  name  no  more. 


Fig.  53. — Profile  of  a  Cirque  at  the  Head  of  a  nonnal  Valley. 


Fig.  54.—  Cirque  in  the  Kalkagar-tau. 


CIRQUES    IN    THE   TIAN    SHAN. 


91 


V. 


Forms  of  the  kind  thus  characterized  are  not  to  be  accounted  for  by  the  theory 
of  normal  erosion,  and  are  not  found  where  normal  erosion  has  acted  alone.  They 
may,  however,  be  accounted  for  by  means  of  reasonable  assumptions  as  to  glacial 
action,  and  they  occur,  so  far  as  is  known,  only  in  mountains  that  are  otherwise 
proved  to  have  been  glaciated.  Their  occurrence  may  therefore  be  taken  in  evi- 
dence of  the  verity  of  the  reasonable  assumptions  by  which  they  are  explained;  all 
the  more  so  because  the  process  of  glacial  erosion  is  not  open  to  direct  observation, 
and  because  there  are  many  different  opinions  as  to  its  rate,  method,  and  amount. 
For  these  very  reasons  it  seems  warrantable  to  determine  the  process  rather  by  the 
forms  that  follow  from  it  than  by  the  little  that  can  be  seen  of  it  in  actual  operation. 

The  different  glacial  ranges  of  the  Tian  Shan  that  we  saw  either  close  at  hand 
or  in  the  distance  afforded  repeated  examples  of 
nearly  every  feature  above  named  as  characteristic 
of  glacial  action.  Mention  has  already  been  made 
of  the  snowy  range  seen  to  the  south  of  the  Fer- 
gana basin,  where  our  field  glasses  showed  numer- 
ous cirques  crowned  with  sharp  peaks  and  aretes, 
and  opening  forward  into  trough-like  valleys  with 
over-steepened  basal  walls.  These  forms  were  as 
typical  of  strong  glacial  erosion  as  any  that  I  have 
seen  in  the  Alps.  It  was  a  surprise  that  features  of 
this  kind  could  be  distinctly  recognized  at  dis- 
tances of  30  or  40  miles,  }'et  we  were  persuaded 

that  their  identification  was  safe.  We  had  a  similar  experience  when  looking 
from  the  Alabuga  Valley  at  the  Kalkagar-tau,  some  30  miles  to  the  south.  Several 
of  the  cirques  there  noted  are  shown  in  figs.  54  and  55  as  sketched  through  a 
field  glass.  All  of  these  cirques  are  continued  downward  by  narrow,  steep-pitching 
normal  valle>-s,  with  respect  to  which  the  cirques  would  have  to  be  explained  as  the 
product  of  an  earlier  cycle  of  erosion  if 
they  were  not  admitted  to  be  of  glacial  ori- 
gin. But  if  the  open  cirques  were  regarded 
as  of  normal  origin,  the  mountain  summits 
above  them  ought  to  be  rounded  fonns, 
while  as  a  matter  of  fact  they  are  as  a  rule 
singularh'  sharp  and  serrate.  Either  fonn 
alone  might  be  explained  without  recourse 
to  glacial  erosion,  but  the  combination  of 
the  two  fonns,  sharp  peaks  and  open  val- 
leys, is  believed  to  find  explanation  only 
by  the  special  process  of  glacial  erosion. 

While  we  were  crossing  the  low  ranges  south  of  Issik  Kul  on  July  16,  a 
number  of  cirques  and  troughs  were  seen  high  up  in  the  Terskei  Ala-tau  to  the 
south  and  southeast.  Some  of  the  cirques  opened  on  the  walls  of  the  larger  troughs 
in  true  hanging-valley   fashion.      One  of  the   troughs  showed  with  remarkable 


Fig.  55. — Cirques  in  the  Kalkagar-tau. 


Fg.  56. — Cirque  near  Sutto-bulak  Pass,  Kungei  Ala-tau. 


92 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


distinctness  the  significant  feature  of  over-steepened  lower  walls.  All  the  cirques 
were  associated  with  sharpened  peaks  and  aretes.  Two  cirques,  hanging  over  a 
glaciated  trough,  have  already  been  mentioned  in  connection  with  the  moraines  on 
the  headwaters  of  the  Ula-khol.  Similar  features  were  seen  farther  east  in  the  same 
range  when  we  examined  it  a  few  dajs  later  through  our  glasses  from  the  north 
side  of  Issik  Kul.  Cirques,  needle  peaks,  and  sharp  aretes  were  well  developed  in 
the  Kungei  Ala-tau  by  the  Sutto-bulak  pass.  One  of  the  cirques  opened  in  the  side 
wall  of  the  main  valley  several  lunidred  feet  above  its  floor,  as  shown  in  fig.  56.  Its 
floor  must  have  been  at  an  elevation  of  about  10,000  feet. 

The  characteristic  as.sociation  of  these  various  glacial  forms  in  the  higher  ranges 
and  their  .striking  contrast  with  forms  of  normal  origin  in  the  lower  ranges  was  a 
suggestive  lesson  in  mountain  sculpture. 

THE  NARIN  TERTIARY  BASIN. 

After  crossing  the  open  pass  that  separated  the  basin  of  the  (eastern)  Kugart 
from  that  of  the  Makmal,  w-e  found  ourselves  in  a  basin  of  partly  consolidated 
conglomerates,  sandstones,  and  clays,  which  was  continued  eastward  down  the 
Alabuga  Valley,  and  whose  end  was  not  reached  where  we  forded  the  Narin  River 
and  crossed  the  mountains  on  the  way  to  Son  Kul.     Although  no  fossils  were  found 


Fig.  37. — General  Cross-section  of  the  Narin  Formation,  looking  east. 

in  the  strata  of  the  basin,  we  regarded  them  as  of  Tertiary  age  from  their  resem- 
blance to  the  Tertiaries  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  region.  The  most  noteworthy 
features  of  the  Narin  fonuation  are  as  follows. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    DEPOSITION. 

The  basal  beds  of  the  formation  were  seen  along  the  southern  border  of  the 
Chaar  Tash  range,  at  the  headwaters  of  the  Makmal.  They  lay  unconformably  on 
granites  and  limestones.  The  surface  of  contact  was  of  small  relief,  as  far  as  could  be 
judged  b}'  the  continuity  of  the  outcrops  of  the  basal  Narin  beds  along  the  mountain 
side.  The  formation  consists  of  muddy  conglomerates,  bright  red  in  color  in  its 
lower  and  marginal  part,  and  of  grayish  clays,  sometimes  banded  with  red,  toward 
the  middle  of  the  basin  ;  it  includes  a  series  of  salt  and  gypsum  beds  in  the  lower 
members  of  the  central  area,  as  revealed  there  in  a  strong  anticline.  The  stratifi- 
cation of  the  conglomerates  and  sandstones  is  variable  and  irregular,  and  cross- 
bedding  was  common.  The  stratification  of  the  clays  is  often  remarkably  regular  ; 
but  in  many  sections  of  all  these  beds,  toward  the  center  of  the  basin  as  well  as 
near  the  margin,  lenses  or  "  channel  fillings  "  were  of  common  occurrence.     These 


THE    NARIN    TERTIARY   BASIN. 


93 


were  taken  as  evidence  of  a  fluviatile  origin  of  the  deposits  as  a  whole,  while  the  salt 
and  gypsum  deposits,  with  tlieir  associated  clays  in  the  lower  central  beds,  were  taken 
to  mark  a  shallow  central  depression  without  outlet,  sometimes  holding  a  bitter 
lake,  sometimes  sheeted  over  with  playa  muds.  The  thickness  of  the  whole 
fonnation  must  amount  to  thousands  of  feet.  As  in  many  other  basins  of  hea\'y 
deposition,  the  basin  floor,  originally  a  land  surface,  must  have  been  depressed 
thousands  of  feet,  so  that  it  in  all  probability  lay  below  the  sea-level.  Hence,  as 
far  as  crustal  movements  are  concerned,  the  Narin  basin  is  perhaps  as  noteworthy 
as  the  Dsungarian  basin,  at  the  east  of  the  Tian  Shan,  in  which  the  land  surface 
to-day  is  below  sea-level.  The  unusual  feature  of  the  latter  basin  may  not  be  so 
much  the  depth  of  its  depression,  but  the  absence  of  sufficient  waste  or  water-filling 
with  which  to  fill  it  to  a  more  ordinary  level  for  a  mid-continental  area.  The  Narin 
basin  was  more  normal  in  this  respect,  for  while  its  area  was  slowly  warped  into 
basin  form,  centripetal  streams  carried  abundant  waste  from  the  ele\-ated  margins 
toward  the  depressed  center,  and  the  latter  was  aggraded  at  the  expense  of  the  former. 

The  lenses  or  channel  fillings  in  the  mar- 
ginal conglomerates  on  the  upper  Maknial  were 
from  30  to  70  feet  wide  and  up  to  10  feet  thick. 
They  usually  showed  cross-bedding,  and  were 
commonly  of  different  texture  from  that  of  the 
bed  in  which  the  channel  had  been  eroded. 
The  lenses  in  the  gray  clays,  well  exposed  on 
the  south  side  of  the  Alabuga  for  several  miles 
below  the  new  road  bridge,  are  ver}-  numerous.  They  are  from  20  to  100  feet 
wide  and  from  i  foot  to  10  feet  deep.  They  frequently  exhibited  a  gentle  cross-bed- 
ding. All  the  lenses  were  convex  downward  and  plane  upward.  There  can  be 
little  doubt  that  they  represent  cross-sections  of  the  shifting  channels  of  the  streams 
by  which  the  basin  was  aggraded. 

THE   PERIOD   OF   DEFORM.^TION   AND   EROSION. 

The  Narin  strata  have  been  much  deformed  on  certain  lines,  but  as  a  whole 
they  have  not  been  greatly  disturbed.  A  generalized  cross-section  of  the  basin  is 
given  in  fig.  57,  representing  a  breadth  of  20  or  30  miles.     The  dip  of  the  basal 


g^^^^^^^^^ 


■\\\\\\\\\\\\\v^^^ 


Fig.  58. — A  small   Monocline  in    the    Narin 
Formation,  looking  east. 


Fig.  59. — Three-mile  section  through  Ulu-tuz  Gorge,  looking  east. 

conglomerate  along  the  border  of  the  Chaar  Tash  is  sometimes  as  much  as  50°  or 
60°,  but  this  measure  decreases  rapidly  as  one  enters  the  basin.  A  well-defined 
monoclinal  flexure,  trending  about  east  and  west,  was  crossed  as  we  followed  down 
the  Makmal.  A  small  monocline  of  diagrammatic  pattern,  with  a  displacement  of 
about  300  feet,  was  seen  a  few  miles  farther  south  ;  it  is  sketched  in  fig.  58.  The 
strong  and  complex  anticline,  by  which  the  lower  beds  are  brought  to  light  near 


94 


EXPLORATIONS    IN   TURKESTAN. 


the  axis  of  the  basin,  nins  about  parallel  to  the  Alabuga  on  its  north  side  for  some 
50  miles  west  of  its  junction  with  the  Narin.  The  trail  crossed  this  anticline  in 
the  Uhi-tuz  gorge,  a  few  miles  west  of  the  new  bridge  over  the  Alabuga,  and  there 
we  saw  a  section  about  3  miles  long,  gi\en  in  fig.  59.  Beds  of  salt  and  g}-psum 
occur  in  the  center,  and  are  greatly  deformed.  Bad-land  clays  lie  horizontal  on  the 
north,  and  sandstones  and  clay-beds  dip  steep  to  the  south  on  the  south.  The 
little  stream  in  the  gorge  was  intensely  salt.  Some  miles  farther  east,  beyond 
the  transverse  gorge  through  which  the  Makmal  comes  to  the  Alabuga,  the  anti- 


Fig.  60. — The  Alabuga  Valley,  looking  north.  The  east  end  of  the  Chaar  Tash  Range  is  seen  over  the 
dissected  anticlinal  ridge  ot  the  Narin  formation;  gypseous  efflorescence  whitens  the  transverse  gorge 
walls  in  the  anticlinal  ridge.     Kirghiz  Tombs  in  the  foreground. 

cline  has  overturned  dips  on  the  south  side  and  rises  in  a  strong  ridge,  on  which 
the  g>'pseous  efflorescence,  seen  in  the  distance,  was  at  first  mistaken  for  snow 
(fig.  60).  Where  we  left  the  Narin  basin  on  our  wa)-  to  Son  Kul,  the  border  of 
the  formation  seemed  to  be  determined  by  a  fault,  as  suggested  in  fig.  61. 

A  large  part  of  the  Narin  fonnation,  where  we  saw  it,  has  been  reduced  to  a 
peneplain  along  the  larger  streams  since  its  deformation,  and  this  peneplain  is  now 
trenched  b\'  terraced  valle)-s,  further  considered  below,  with  much  bad-land  dissec- 
tion of  the  clay  beds  in  the  residual  uplands  and  on  the  valley  sides.  It  was  here 
that  we  saw  that  the  bad-land  forms  were  developed  in  sharpest  detail  on  the 
southwestern  slopes,  while  the  closely  adjacent  slopes  to  the  northeast  had  a  thin 
cover  of  herbage  and  a  smoother  form,  as  noted  in  an  earlier  paragraph. 


RIVERS   AND   VALLEYS   OF   THE   TIAN    SHAN. 


95 


We  were  led  to  conclude  that  the  crustal  movements  during  the  deposition  and 
the  deformation  of  the  Narin  strata  should  be  associated  with  the  movements  that 
have  given  rise  to  the  present  relief  of  the  Tian  Shan.  The  red  color  of  the  basal 
beds,  seen  not  only  on  the  south  side  of  the  Chaar  Tash,  but  in  the  southern 
distance  along  the  north  base  of  the  Kalkagar-tau,  is  consistent  with  the  reduction 


Fig.  61 . — Four-mile  section  across  the  northern  border  of  the  Narin  formation,  looking  east. 

of  the  region  to  lowland  form  before  the  beginning  of  the  deformation  by  which 
the  Narin  deposits  were  initiated  ;  yet  the  inclosing  ranges  to-day  have  serrate 
crests  without  indication  of  having  ever  been  peneplained.  Some  smaller  valley 
deposits,  probably  of  Tertiary-  date,  will  be  described  in  the  next  section. 


THE  RIVERS  AND  VALLEYS  OF  THE  TIAN  SHAN. 

If  the  theoretical  considerations  presented  in  the  chapter  on  the  Tian  Shan  are 
well  based,  we  should  expect  to  find  streams  of  several  kinds  among  the  western 
ranges  of  this  mountain  system.  Those  of  the  first  kind  would  continue  from  the 
fonner  cycle  of  erosion,  but  would  be  revived  to  renewed  activity  in  consequence  of 
a  favoring  elevation  of  the  region.  The  \alleys  of  these  revived  streams  would  be 
seen  to-day  where  the  relief  of  the  fonner  C3-cle  remained  in  greatest  strength,  or 
where  the  new  uplifts  did  not  defeat  the  streams.  Streams  of  a  second  kind  would 
persist  from  the  antecedent  cycle  of  erosion  in  spite  of  an  unfavorable  elevation 
of  the  region.  The  valleys  of  these  antecedent  streams  would  be  expected  where 
the  streams  were  largest  and  where  the  unfa\'orable  uplifts  were  not  too  strong. 
Streams  of  a  third  kind  would  be  of  new  establishment,  following  the  slopes 
produced  by  the  movements  which  introduced  the  new  cycle.  They  might  be 
called  new  consequents,  and  they  would  be  expected  where  the  movements  were 
strong  and  the  pre-existent  streanas  were  weak.  A  fourth  class  of  streams  would 
include  all  those  developed  in  the  new  cycle  by  headward  erosion  along  belts  of 
weak  structures  exposed  in  the  \-alleys  of  the  other  class.  Such  would  be  called 
new  subsequents. 

Examples  of  revived  streams  are  probably  to  be  found  in  the  central  plateau- 
like region  described  in  Mr.  Huntington's  report.  The  gorges  cut  through  some 
of  the  ranges  suggest  an  antecedent  origin.  The  gorge  by  which  the  Narin  cuts 
through  the  eastern  end  of  the  Chaar  Tash,  just  below  the  entrance  of  the  Alabuga, 
the  gorge  of  the  Juvan-arik  in  the  Yukok-tau  range  (fig.  43),  and  the  Buam  gorge 
of  the  Chu  northwest  of  Issik  Kul,  all  may  be  of  this  kind  ;  but  the  case  is  not  clear. 
New  consequents  appear  to  be  numerous  on  the  northern  face  and  on  the  southern 
back  slope  of  the  Alexander  range,  and  in  the  longitudinal  depressions  between 
the  ranges  near  the  west  end  of  Issik  Kul.  New  subsequents  of  relatively  small 
size  are  probably  of  common  occurrence  as  branches  of  all  the  other  kind  of  streams. 


g6  EXPLORATIOXS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

RIVERS   OF   THE   ISSIK    KUL    DISTRICT. 

The  rivers  in  the  Issik  Kul  district  proclaim  their  association  with  new-made 
ranges  by  their  habit  of  (until  recenth)  aggrading  the  longitudinal  valleys  and 
of  eroding  the  transverse  valleys.  This  is  notably  the  case  in  the  members  of 
the  Chu  system.  The  lower  Tuluk  Valley  contains  in  its  longitudinal  portion 
several  hundred  feet  of  yellowish  clays,  interstratified  with  lenses  and  layers  of 
coarse  gTa\els  and  cobbles,  all  now  dissected.  The  stream  turns  abruptly  north- 
ward from  this  aggraded  and  dissected  trough  to  a  deep  and  narrow  gorge  through 
the  eastern  extension  of  the  Chalai  range,  and  then  joins  the  Juvan-arik.  The 
gorge  is  passable  at  low  water,  but  at  the  time  of  our  \isit  the  Tuluk-su  was  too 
high  to  pennit  us  to  follow  it,  and  we  had  to  make  a  detour  over  a  low  pass.  The 
upper  (western)  part  of  the  Tuluk  \'alley,  where  we  first  came  to  it  north  of  Son 
Kul,  did  not  present  any  sure  signs  of  being  a  valle}-  of  recent  deformation ;  its 
sides  were  well  dissected  ;  its  lower  spurs  were  well  graded  ;  its  present  flood  plain 
was  eroded  50  feet  or  more  below  an  earlier  valley  floor ;  yet  all  this  is  consistent 
with  the  origin  of  the  valley  by  subrecent  defonnation,  followed  by  dissection  of 
its  sides,  accumulation  in  its   most  depressed   part,  and  erosion  of  its  transverse 


^ALEXANDER  RANGE 

Kachkar  Basin 


KOK-TAL  RANGE 


Fig.  62. — Fifteen-mile  section  across  the  Kach-kar  Basin,  looking  east. 

outlet.  The  change  toward  a  more  arid  low-level  climate,  indicated  by  an  increas- 
ing sparseness  of  vegetation  as  we  rode  down  the  \alle)-,  was  distinctly  noticeable 
in  a  distance  of  10  or  15  miles. 

The  Ju\an-arik  comes  from  the  east  in  a  longitudinal  valle)'  on  the  south  side 
of  the  Terskei  Ala-tau ;  then  turns  northward  near  the  junction  with  the  Tuluk-su 
and  follows  a  deep  gorge  (fig.  43) — one  of  the  wildest  gorges  in  the  Tian  Shan,  accord- 
ing to  Severtzof  (1875,  73) — through  the  range,  here  called  the  Yukok-tau  (Son  Kul 
Gebirge  on  Friedrichsen's  map),  to  the  Kach-kar  basin.  The  longitudinal  valley 
contains  clay  deposits  of  a  yellowish  or  reddish  color,  but  these  are  now  so  deeply 
dissected  as  to  expose  the  rock  floor  on  which  they  rest.  Since  the  deep  dissection 
there  has  been  an  accumulation  of  gravels  and  cobbles,  capped  with  gra)-  silts,  but 
these  deposits  are  also  trenched,  and  the  present  river  flows  in  an  open  flood  plain 
below  the  terrace  remnants  of  the  gravels.  The  traus\-erse  gorge  has  steep,  ragged 
walls  of  granite,  basalt,  and  diorite,  between  which  the  ri\-er  rushes  on  a  rapidly 
descending  bowlder  bed.  There  are  few  signs  of  terracing  in  the  gorge,  but  where 
lateral  ravines  open  in  the  walls,  benches  of  gravel  remain. 

The  Juvan-arik  joins  the  Kach-kar  in  a  longitudinal  basin  of  the  same  name, 
and  their  united  waters  flow  eastward  and  northward  toward  Issik  Kul,  under  the 
name  of  Urta-takoe.  The  Kach-kar  basin  has  already  been  referred  to  as  an 
aggraded  area  of  depression  correlated  with  the  uplifted  and  dissected  block  of  the 


BASINS   AND   GORGES   OF   THE    CIIU.  97 

Alexander  range  on  the  north.  Near  the  soutliern  border  of  the  basin  are  some 
ridges  fonned  of  clay  beds,  probably  Tertiary',  tilted  to  the  south  and  eroded,  as  in 
fig.  62,  and  thus  suggesting  progressive  deformation  of  the  bordering  mountain 
blocks,  as  in  the  Narin  basin.  The  passage  of  the  Juvan-arik  through  the  clay 
ridges  is  marked  by  terraces  at  three  levels.  Farther  on  there  is  a  broad  plain  near 
the  grade  of  the  present  rivers.  The  topography  of  the  district  must  hav^e  been 
ver^-  different  when  the  clays  were  deposited,  for  the  rapid  river  is  now  and  has 
long  been  washing  coarse  waste  in  abundance  from  its  gorge  in  the  Yukok-tau, 
The  clays  may,  therefore,  be  provisionally  referred  to  an  early  period  of  defonnation, 
before  the  surrounding  region  had  gained  a  strong  relief.  Their  defonnation  and 
progressi\-e  degradation  may  be  associated  with  the  stronger  dislocation  and  dissec- 
tion of  the  inclosing  ranges. 

The  Urta-takoe  soon  leaves  the  Kach-kar  basin  by  a  rather  narrow  valley,  and 
enters  a  second  basin  in  the  center  of  which  lies  Urta-takoe  post-station,  just  south 
of  a  superb  fan  that  is  washed  from  the  block  range  on  the  north.  The  longitudinal 
valley  here  has  even,-  appearance  of  being  aggraded,  especially  to  the  east,  where 
the  waste  that  is  washed  in  from  the  higher  range  on  the  south  has  built  up  a  long, 
slightly  convex  filling  against  the  middle  of  the  smaller  range  on  the  north. 
Mention  of  this  has  already  been  made  in  connection  with  the  block  moimtains  of 
this  district.  The  ri\er  runs  northward  through  a  gorge  and  thus  reaches  the 
western  end  of  the  Issik  Kul  basin,  where  a  great  volume  of  gravels  has  been 
deposited  and  afterward  more  or  less  dissected.  Some  of  these  gTa\-els  will  be 
mentioned  in  the  section  on  the  lake  basin. 

The  river  that  we  have  been  following  is  called  the  Chn  after  passing  the  west 
end  of  Issik  Kul.  For  the  next  20  miles  it  follows  a  rather  open  \-alley  westward, 
with  an  extraordinar)'  exhibition  of  terraced  alluvial  deposits,  including  cream- 
colored  clays  and  hea\y  gravels.  Then  the  deep  and  wild  Buani  gorge  is  followed 
northward.  The  river  here  flows  at  great  speed  in  most  tumultuous  fashion  for 
miles  together.  Its  descent  is  so  rapid  that  the  road  alongside  of  it  was  often 
undesirably  steep.  The  iutrenchment  of  the  gorge  is  evidently  still  in  active 
progress ;  yet  even  here,  where  the  walls  are  steep  and  ragged  in  resistant  rocks, 
and  where  there  is  often  not  even  the  beginning  of  a  flood  plain,  some  small 
tributary  streams  enter  the  Chu  practically  at  grade.  At  Kok-muinak  station  the 
gorge  opens  upon  a  wide  basin,  where  the  river  has  made  some  fine  terraces  by 
cutting  down  through  its  fonner  gravels  and  into  the  rock  beneath. 

The  persistent  alternation  of  open  longitudinal  valle\s  with  silts  and  gravels 
and  of  narrow  transverse  gorges  with  bare  rock  walls,  taken  with  the  ungraded 
character  of  the  river  in  the  gorges,  gives  strong  evidence  of  subrecent  displace- 
ment of  the  ranges  in  the  Chu  basin,  and  thus  confirms  the  inferences  based  on 
the  form  of  the  mountain  blocks. 

THE   KOGART   TERRACES. 

Terraces  occur  in  all  the  valleys  that  we  followed.  The  best  examples  will  be 
briefly  described,  beginning  with  those  of  the  (western)  Kugart,  where  we  first 
entered  the  mountains.     This  valley  seems  to  have  been  eroded  to  a  much  greater 


98 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


depth  tlian  it  now  possesses  and  "then  heavily  aggraded,  mostly  with  gravel,  but 
with  some  silt  layers,  so  that  its  floor  gained  a  breadth  of  3  miles  in  its  lower 
course.  It  was  during  this  aggradation  that  we  suppose  the  loess  of  the  hillsides 
to  have  been  supplied  from  the  flood  plain  of  the  wandering  river.  Since  then  the 
river  has  returned  to  its  fonncr  habit  of  erosion  and  valley  deepening,  as  a  result 
of  which  several  terraces  have  been  developed.  Those  near  the  mouth  of  the  Karalma 
(fig.  63),  a  branch  from  the  north,  are  drawn  in  section  in  figure  64.  Here  the 
river  is  nearlj'  300  feet  below  the  upper  plain.  Fans  of  half-mile  radius  are  built 
on  the  plain  by  streams  issuing  from  the  range  on  the  south.  The  \-alle\-  is  here 
bordered  on  the  north  side  by  bluffs  of  bedded  conglomerate  and  silts,  which 
rise  several  hundred  feet  above  the  upper  plain,  and  show  a  moderate  northwesterly 
dip,  thus  suggesting  that  there  have  been  alternations  of  degradation  and  aggrada- 


Kig.  03.      1  enaces  of  the  (western)  Kugart,  looking  northeast. 

tion,  associated  with  slight  uplifts,  in  this  district.  The  stream  ran  near  the  north 
side  of  its  valley  for  the  lower  30  or  40  miles,  and  the  road  that  is  projected  to  cross 
Kugart  pass  followed  up  the  broad  terrace  plain  on  the  south  side ;  but  just  above 
the  village  of  Taran  Bazaar  the  stream  lies  along  the  south  side  of  the  valley, 
where  it  is  locally  superposed  on  a  belt  of  limestone  to  the  south  of  its  fonner  course, 
and  a  narrow  gorge  results,  as  in  figs.  65  and  66.  We  here  met  one  of  the  engineers 
in  charge  of  the  road  construction,  who  said  it  was  intended  to  cut  a  roadway  on 
the  southern  wall  of  the  gorge,  and  thus  avoid  the  necessity  of  bridging  the  river. 
In  the  meantime  the  Kirghiz  ford  the  river  just  below  the  gorge  and  then  follow  up 
the  terrace  on  the  north  side  of  the  upper  valley.  We  took  guides  for  the  ford,  and 
were  more  fortunate  than  some  wayfarers  who  had  preceded  us  by  a  few  hours,  as 
one  of  their  pack  horses  had  been  drowned  in  the  crossing. 


TERRACES    IN    THE    KUGART   VALLEYS. 


99 


The  terrace  plain  continues  far  up  the  Kugart-su,  l)ut  it  becomes  narrowed 
and  the  river  often  cuts  through  the  gravels  to  the  rocks  beneath.  The  rocks 
are  weak  red  beds  for  several  miles,  in  which  the  hills  are  low  and  the  valley 
sides  are  scarred  with  landslips.     Farther  on  schists  and  slates  set  in,  the  mountains 


Fig.  64. — Three-mile  section  across  the  (western)  Kugart  Valley,  looking  northeast. 

rise,  and  the  valley  narrows.  The  upper  terrace  plain  is  then  more  built  upon  bi- 
lateral fans  and  more  trenched  by  lateral  streams,  so  that  the  trail  along  it  has  an 
uneven  grade.  At  the  mouth  of  the  Kizil-su  a  fine  exposure  of  the  terrace  con- 
glomerates is  seen,  several  hundred  feet  in  thickness.  Above  the  Kizil-su  cobbles 
and  roughly-rounded  blocks  are  found  in  patches  on  the  mountain  side  above  the 
terrace  plain,  as  if  they  marked  the  remnants  of  some  still  earlier  \-alley  filling 
whose  terrace  form  is  now  lost.     Farther  on  in  the  mountains  the  stream  rises 


Fig.  65. — Goige  of  the  (western)  Kugart,   above  Taran  Bazaar,  looking  east. 

above  the  terrace  level,  and  the  valley  floor  is  encroached  upon  by  torrent  fans  from 
lateral  ravines.  Here  we  camped  in  the  rain,  about  5  miles  below  the  pass,  on 
June  30.  The  discomfort  of  bad  weather  was  removed  by  the  thoughtfulness  of 
our  good  friend,  the  Min-bashi,  who  had  given  orders  to  send  a  party  of  Kirghiz 
ahead  with  yurts.  When  we  reached  the  camp  the  yurLs  were  already  set  up  and 
well  furnished  for  a  comfortable  night. 


ICX3 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


After  we  had  crossed  the  Kugart  pass,  in  the  Fergaua  range,  and  descended 
into  the  valley  of  the   (eastern)    Kugart-sn,  another   finely  developed  system  of 

terraces  was  fomid.  The  main  and  branch 
valleys  here,  below  the  torrential  head- 
waters, were  eroded  in  a  broad  basin  of 
tilted  conglomerates  that  probabl}-  belong 
with  the  Narin  fonnation.  The  spurs 
of  the  conglomerate  hills  rose  above  the 
highest  terrace  (fig.  67).  Here  and  else- 
Fig.  66.— One-mile  section  of  Gorge  in  the  (western)  Kugart  where  the  bills  and  spurS  Were  dissectcd 
Valley,  looking  northeast.  ,  ,  ,  ,  .  ,    ,, 

by  rather  close-spaced  ravines,  and  tlie 
slopes  were  beautifully  graded.  The  terrace  plain  ascended  with  a  rather  strong 
gradient  into  the  embayments  between  the  spurs.  In  such  a  case  it  is  evident  that 
the  material  of  the  terrace  was  deri\-ed  from  the  side  vallevs  as  well  as  from  the 


Fig.  67. — Upper  Terrace  of  the  (eastern)  Kugart,  near  the  Kirghiz  Bridge,  looking  southwest.    Dissected  hills 
and  spurs  of  tilted  older  conglomerates  in  the  background. 

main  valley.  The  stream  has  intrenched  itself  225  feet  below  the  upper  terrace 
plain  at  the  Kirghiz  bridge,  carving  se\-eral  terrace  benches  in  the  process.  The 
upper  terrace  plain  and  the  stronger  terrace  benches  continue  for  10  or  12  miles 
northward  toward  the  Narin  Valley.  A  mile  upstream,  south,  from  the  rude 
Kirghiz  bridge  by  which  we  crossed  the  ri\-er,  a  westward  swing  of  its  course 


TERRACES    IN    THE    KUGART   VALLEYS. 


IO.I 


undercuts  the  whole  thickness  of  the  valley-filling,  up  to  the  upper  plain,  and  shows 
the  half-cemented  conglomerate  in  a  fine  bluff  (fig.  68).  Many  little  terraces  occur 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  stream. 

Several  large  landslides  have  invaded  this  valley  from  the  granitic  Chaar  Tash 
range  on  the  southeast.  The  first  one  noticed  was  just  below  the  Kirghiz  bridge 
across  the  Kugart-su.  No  verv'  distinct  scar  was  to  be  seen  on  the  mountain  side, 
but  the  path  of  the  slide  was  marked  by  a  wide  belt  of  confused  bowlder-strewn 
knobs  and  mounds  that  stretched  for  8  or  lo  miles  northwestward  from  the 
mountains  down  a  moderate  slope  to  the  terrace  plain.  Curiously  enough,  the 
extremity  of  the  slide  lay,  150  feet  thick,  on  the  plain  on  the  farther  (northwest) 


Fig.  68. — Gravel  Bluff  in  ihe  Terraces  of  the  (eastern)  Kugart.  looking  south.    Spurs  of  conglomerate  in  middle 
distance;  the  Fergana  Range  in  the  background. 

side  of  the  river  trench,  and  rose  100  feet  higher  there  than  in  the  tunuilt  of 
mounds  on  the  nearer  (southeast)  side,  as  in  fig.  69.  The  slide  had  evidenth'  taken 
place  before  the  river  had  deeply  intrenched  itself  beneath  the  plain,  for  the  walls 
of  the  trench  gave  a  good  section  of  the  irregular  landslide  mass  resting  on  the 
well-stratified  conglomerates ;  and  in  such  a  case  one  might  expect  the  river  to 
have  been  turned  from  its  former  course  to  a  new  channel  around  the  end  of  the 
slide;  but  as  this  did  not  happen,  we  may  suppose  that  the  river  maintained  its 
course  by  enlarging  the  leaks  and  passages  through  the  slide.  We  had  a  fine  view 
of  the  valley  from  the  high  terminal  mounds  of  irregiilar  form,  composed  of  angular 


I02 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


granitic  fragments,  with  many  large  blocks,  lo  or  15  feet  through.  Some  other 
large  slides  were  crossed  fartlier  south.  These  came  from  the  west  end  of  the 
Chaar  Ta.sh  and  ran  \vestward  into  the  valley  of  the  Oi-kain,  a  branch  of  the 
(eastern)  Kugart-su.     One  of  the  slides  blocked  the  valley  and  caused  the  formation 


CHAAR-TASM    RANOC 


Fig.  69. — Ten-mile  section  of  a  Landslide  in  the  (eastern)  Kugart  Valley,  looking  north- 
east. The  present  river  valley  is  eroded  in  horizontal  gravels  that  occupy  an  older 
and  much  wider  valley  eroded  in  tilted  conglomerates. 

of  a  large  meadow,  now  .somewhat  terraced,  ne.xt  upstream.  A  little  farther  south 
the  Oi-kain  has  been  superposed  on  the  resistant  rocks  (apparenth-  limestones)  at 
the  southwest  end  of  the  range,  and  has  there  cut  an  impassable  gorge  ;  hence  the 
trail  climbs  over  the  ridge  on  the  southwest  and  then  descends  into  the  open  upper 
valley  of  the  same  stream. 

THE   TERRACES   OF   THE   NARIN   BASIN. 

The  terraces  of  the  Alabuga  River  in  its  valley  through  the  Narin  formation 
were  among  the  most  interesting  that  we  saw.  It  has  already  been  stated  that  the 
Narin  conglomerates  and  clajs  had  been  much  eroded  after  their  deformation.  The 
terraces  now  to  be  described  occur  in  the  valley  that  has  been  eroded  below  the 
broadly  degraded  surface — a  true  plain  or  a  peneplain  over  large  areas — of  the  Narin 
strata.  The  terraces  were  first  seen  in  the  valley  of  the  Makmal,  where  three  or 
four  steps  occurred.  The  uppennost  Makmal  plain  was  broadly  sheeted  over  with 
gravels,  even  where  it  tnnicated  the  tilted  clays.     The  spurs  of  the  higher  terraces, 


Fig.  70. — Tv^o-mile  section  of  Terraces  in  Alabuga  Valley,  looking  east. 

as  well  as  the  residual  hills  that  surmoinit  the  highest  plain,  assume  a  more  and 
more  minute  pattern  of  dissection  or  bad-land  fonn,  as  the  clayey  strata  toward  the 
center  of  the  basin  are  reached.  After  passing  southward  through  the  Ulu-tuz 
gorge  in  the  salt-bearing  anticline,  we  came  out  upon  a  well-defined  terrace  plain 
of  the  Alabuga  \'alley  and  crossed  it  to  the  trench  of  this  river,  which  was  incised 
150  or  200  feet  below  the  plain,  as  in  fig.  70.  Here  several  terraces  were  seen  on 
the  north  side  of  the  trench,  while  a  single  bluff  rose  on  the  .south  side.  The  bluff 
showed  a  heavy  deposit  of  gravel,  capped  with  20  or  30  feet  of  fine  gray  loess-like 
silt  at  the  level  of  the  terrace  plain.     Many  springs  issue  from  the  blufll"  at  the 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    TERRACES. 


103 


surface  of  contact  of  the  gravels  on  the  Narin  clays.  Tlic  river  is  now  so  rapid 
that  it  washes  along  heav>'  cobbles.  A  much  gentler  current  is  suggested  by  the 
silts  that  cap  the  gravel  bluff. 

As  the  Alabuga  is  followed  eastward,  a  graded  plain  makes  its  appearance  300 
or  400  feet  above  the  terraces  just  mentioned.  It  is  this  higher  plain  which  consti- 
tutes the  peneplain,  woni  on  the  disturbed  Narin  fonnation.  Bad-land  residuals, 
100  or  200  feet  in  height,  still  sunnount  it  here  and  there  ;  yet  in  the  district  where 
the  road  crossed  over  its  remnant  spurs,  the  peneplain  must  have  occupied  nine- 
tentlis  of  the  basin  floor  south  of  the  river  before  the  present  valleys  were  cut  below 
it.  The  peneplain  here  is  cloaked  with  from  30  to  50  feet  of  gravel,  which  lies 
unconfonnably  on  the  beveled  surface  of  the  tilted  clays.  At  some  points  a  heavier 
brown  conglomerate  is  locally  developed  at  the  base  of  the  gravels,  as  if  it  were  the 
channel  fillings  of  a  river.  Its  outcrops  are  rather  strong,  and  large  blocks  from 
it  creep  down  the  clay  slopes  beneath. 

Near  the  junction  of  the  Alabuga  and  the  Narin,  the  lower  terraces  seemed  to 
involve  successive  alternations  from   erosion  to  deposition,  as  indicated  in  fig.  71. 

A  wide,  open  valley,  car\-ed  in  the  tilted 
Narin  clays,  was  filled  to  a  depth  of 
more  than  150  feet  with  silts.  A  smaller 
valley  was  eroded  in  the  silts,  then  partly 
filled  with  a  deposit  of  gravels.  The 
present  ri\-er  plain  is  eroded  about  30 
feet  below  the  gravel  plain.  The  Narin, 
flowing  northwestward,  soon  enters  a 
narrow  gorge  that  is  cut  through  a  sag 
in  the  mountains  between  the  Chaar  Tash  and  the  Dongus-tau  ranges.  The  red 
basal  beds  of  the  Narin  formation  were  seen  in  the  gorge. 

Our  road  followed  up  the  south  side  of  the  Narin,  where  terraces  continued 
similar  to  those  already  described.  When  we  camped  on  its  banks  for  the  night, 
clear,  cool  water  was  found  at  the  stream's  edge,  issuing  from  the  gra\-els  of  the 
terrace  to  mingle  with  the  turbid  current  of  the  river.  The  river  was  said  by  the 
Kirghiz  to  have  a  daily  fluctuation  of  level,  and  to  be  lowest  at  about  10  o'clock 
in  the  morning  ;  hence  that  time  was  chosen  for  fording  it  the  next  day,  July  7.  It 
was  then  about  a  foot  lower  than  when  we  came  to  it  the  evening  before. 

The  terraces  of  the  Juvan-arik  have  already  been  mentioned.  The  Ula-khol, 
a  small  river  entering  the  southwestern  part  of  Issik  Kul,  has  several  terraces  eroded 
in  tilted  conglomerates  a  few  miles  from  the  lake. 


Fig.  71 


-Three-mile  section  of  Terraces  at  the  junction  of  the 
Alabuga  and  Narin  f^ers,  looking  east. 


ORIGIN   OF   THE   TERR.\CES. 

Many  more  examples  of  terraces  are  described  in  Mr.  Huntington's  report, 
where  strong  reasons  are  given  for  ascribing  the  terracing  of  the  valleys  in  the 
Tian  Shan  to  climatic  changes.  It  may  be  here  pointed  out  that  none  of  the 
terraces  described  in  the  preceding  paragraphs  resemble  the  terraces  of  New  England 
in  depending  on  ledges  of  resistant  rock  for  their  protection.     If  a  Narin  terrace 


104 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


(B,  fig.  72)  has  not  been  destroyed  by  the  widening  of  the  valley  (Y),  this  is  not 
because  the  widening  of  the  valley  has  been  prevented  by  the  lateral  encounter  of 
unusually  resistant  rocks,  but  because  the  river  spontaneously  ceased  its  destnictive 
work  when  the  lower  valley  was  significantly  narrower  than  the  upper  \'alley  (V), 
instead  of  continuing  to  widen  the  lower  \-alley  so  as  to  combine  the  two  terraces, 
A  and  B,  in  a  single  terrace,  A'.  All  the  terraces  of  the  two  Kugarts  and  of  the 
Alabuga-Narin  Valley,  and  at  least  some  of  those  of  the  Chu  system,  thus  appear 
to  result  from  successive  reductions  in  the  power  or  in  the  period  of  river  action. 
The  same  holds  true  in  the  case  of  the  terraces  in  the  Kopet  Dagh,  above  described. 
Here,  as  well  as  there,  it  is  not  likely  that  the  terraces  now  seen  record  all  of  the 
terrace-making  episodes,  but  onl)-  the  decreasing  maxima  iu  a  complicated  series. 
It  should  also  be  pointed  out  that  the  terraces  of  New  England  and  of  the  Tian 
Shan  appear  to  be  of  unlike  age.  Those  of  New  England  are  eroded  in  loose 
sands  or  clays,  and  are  all  of  later  date  than  the  last  glacial  epoch.  Indeed,  their 
production  may  have  required  less  than  half  of  post-glacial  time,  for  the  valleys  iu 
which  they  were  car\^ed  were  aggraded,  after  the 
ice  retreated,  by  the  same  rivers  that  are  now 
degrading  them  ;  and  the  existence  of  the  ter- 
races shows  that  less  material  has  been  removed 
than  was  previously  deposited.  The  terraces  of 
the  Tian  Shan,  on  the  other  hand,  are  usually 
eroded  either  in  rather  well  knit  gravels  or  con- 
glomerates, as  along  the  two  Kugarts,  or  in  partly  consolidated  sandstones  and 
claystones,  as  in  the  Narin  fonnation,  while  in  the  Kopet  Dagh  they  are  car\-ed  in 
calcareous  shales.  In  all  these  cases  the  terrace  materials  are  strong  enough  to  stand 
up  in  steep  bluffs.  None  of  these  terraces  are  in  glaciated  valleys.  The  earlier 
terracing  appears  to  be  much  more  ancient  than  the  latest  moraines  in  the  high 
mountain  valleys.  It  is  therefore  quite  conceivable  that,  as  Mr.  Huntington  has 
concluded,  the  successive  glacial  epochs  and  the  successive  terracing  epochs,  each 
of  decreasing  intensit}',  may  be  synchronous,  and  may  be  common  results  of  a 
series  of  climatic  changes.  Whether  it  is  finally  proved  that  the  terraces  result 
from  climatic  changes,  or  whether  the  terraces  are  in  part  the  result  of  cnistal 
movements,  there  appears  to  be  good  ground  for  thinking  that  the  time  internals 
marked  by  the  terraces  may  be  correlated  over  ver}-  considerable  distances,  and 
that  the  time  inter\-als  thus  established  ma}-  be  eventually  placed  in  the  same  scale 
with  those  indicated  b}-  the  glacial  records  ;  and  that  thus  a  good  beginning  toward 
the  establishment  of  a  Quaternar}'  time  scale  will  have  been  made. 


Fig.  72. — Ideal  section  of  Terraces. 


THE    ISSIK    KUL    BASIN.  10  = 


THE  ISSIK   KUL  BASIN. 


Issik  Kill,  or  the  ''Warm  Lake,"  is  115  miles  long  and  from  20  to  35  miles 
wide.  Its  surface  stands  5,300  feet  above  sea-level.  The  bare  mountains  around  it 
are  picturesque,  but  the  barren,  stony  piedmont  slopes,  several  miles  in  breadth, 
greatly  lessen  the  beauty  of  the  scener\-.  The  basin  of  the  lake  resembles  that  of 
the  Narin  Tertiar\-  formation,  in  that  both  have  been  produced  by  the  deformation 
of  a  previously  degraded  mountain  region  and  that  both  have  received  much  waste 
from  their  uplifted  borders ;  but  they  differ  in  that  the  defonnation  of  the  Xarin 
basin  ceased  so  long  ago  that  its  deposits  are  now  well  dissected  by  the  trunk 
and  branches  of  an  outflowing  river,  while  the  deformation  of  the  Issik  Kul  basin 
has  been  continued  into  so  recent  a  time  that  it  holds  a  large  lake,  from  which  there 
is  at  present  no  outlet.  The  lake  surface  and  the  surface  of  the  present  Narin 
Valley  are  of  similar  altitude,  something  over  5,000  feet  above  sea-level.  It  is  ver}- 
probable  that  the  original  floor  in  each  of  these  basins  now  stands  below  sea-level,  but 
as  it  is  concealed  beneath  a  co\-er  of  deposits  or  of  water,  the  depression  excites  less 
attention  than  it  would  if  it  were  open  to  observation  ;  yet  as  far  as  the  mechanics 
of  the  earth's  crust  is  concerned,  one  case  is,  as  has  already  been  pointed  out,  as 
remarkable  as  the  other. 

Evidence  of  the  previous  degradation  of  the  region  in  which  the  Narin 
basin  was  bent  down  is  found  in  the  relatively  even  trend  of  the  red  basal  con- 
glomerates which  rose  even  along  the  southern  side  of  the  Chaar  Tash  range; 
for  if  the  surface  on  which  the  conglomerates  were  deposited  had  been  of  strong 
relief,  their  outcrops  and  the  slopes  of  the  Chaar  Tash  rocks  could  not  have  come 
together  on  so  e\en  a  line.  The  evidence  of  previous  degradation  in  the  region  of 
the  Issik  Kul  basin  is  foiuid  in  the  even  sky-lines  or  back  slopes  of  several  of  the 
neighboring  mountain  ranges,  as  already  described.  The  ranges  are  now  much 
dissected,  and  deposits  of  their  waste  are  found  not  only  in  the  stony  piedmont 
slopes  with  which  the  lake  is  surrounded,  but  also  in  older  clays  and  conglomerates, 
now  more  or  less  deformed  and  eroded,  aroimd  the  borders  of  the  lake. 

THE   EARLY    BASIN   DEPOSITS. 

Hills  and  ridges  of  eroded  conglomerates  were  seen  south  of  the  lake  when  we 
ascended  the  Ula-khol ;  their  total  thickness  may  have  been  several  thousand  feet. 
These  uplifted  conglomerates  fall  off"  northward  toward  the  lake  in  a  rather  well 
defined  subrectilinear  bluff  east  of  the  Ula-khol.  A  lower  bluff,  subparallel  to  the 
first,  stands  a  little  farther  forward ;  then  comes  the  fan  of  the  Ula-khol,  in  which 
the  stream  has  now  eroded  a  shallow  trench.  Not  far  forward  from  the  second 
bluff",  a  third  bluff  or  scarp,  from  5  to  15  feet  high,  crosses  the  delta,  and  this  one 
seems  to  be  the  result  of  recent  displacement.  This  scarp  can  not  be  considered  a 
high-level  shore-mark  of  the  lake,  for  instead  of  contouring  around  the  Ula-khol  fan 
in  a  level  line,  it  passes  over  the  gentle  arch  of  the  fan  in  a  relatively  straight  line. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  a  similar  displacement  was  noted  in  the  waste  fans 
piedmont  to  the  range  at  the  west  end  of  Issik  Kul. 


I06  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

A  point  between  two  bays  at  the  west  end  of  Issik  Kul  is  caused  by  ridges  of 
dissected  conglomerates,  bordered  north  and  south  by  low  gra\'el  plains  of  gentle 
grade,  sloping  from  the  Chu  toward  the  lake,  and  probably  representing  former 
deltas  of  the  Chu  when  it  flowed  into  Issik  Kul.  That  it  had  probably  once  done 
so  was  recognized  by  Severtzof  in  1867  (1875,  82).  The  Chu  has  now  a  silt  cover 
on  its  flood  plain  near  the  lake,  but  shows  gravels  in  its  .shoals.  If  the  silts  were 
laid  over  the  plain  of  its  fonner  delta,  they  have  been  removed.  The  Kirghiz  have 
led  some  small  canals  from  the  Chu  eastward  across  the  southern  delta  plain  toward 
the  lake.  The  water  thus  gained  is  distributed  on  fields  of  fine  soil  not  far  from 
the  lake  shore.  A  pair  of  whitish  clay  belts,  about  5  feet  apart,  vertically,  was 
seen  contouring  around  the  slopes  that  inclose  this  plain.  We  took  them  for 
shorelines  at  first,  supposing  that  the  clay  had  accumulated  in  the  presence  of  reeds 
or  grass,  by  which  wave  action  was  held  off,  as  is  now  the  case  on  parts  of  the  Son 
Kul  shoreline ;  but  cla}-  belts  were  not  seen  eastward  along  the  northern  shore. 
These  belts  are  probably  50  feet  higher  than  the  well-detennined  shorelines  traced 
at  and  below  the  25-foot  level;  moreover,  similar  clays  in  greater  volume  were  seen 
at  the  north  base  of  the  conglomerate  ridges  between  the  two  gravel  delta  plains, 
and  in  much  greater  volume  farther  down  the  Chu  Valley ;  so  the  origin  of  the  clay 
belts  is  left  in  doubt. 

On  the  north  side  of  Issik  Kul  the  piedmont  waste  slope  is  rather  e\enh- 
develoj^ed  for  the  first  50  miles  eastward  from  the  west  end  of  the  lake,  although 
some  local  varicolored  ridges  rose  through  the  waste  slope  at  a  few  points  where  its 
breadth  was  greater  than  usual.  For  the  ne.xt  20  miles,  nearly  to  Sezanovka,  the 
slope  was  often  made  ver)-  une\en  by  a  succession  of  irregular  ridges  of  disturbed 
and  dissected  basin  deposits  of  variable  texture.  The  finer  sandy  or  silty  layers 
here  seen  were  frequenth'  co\-ered  with  hea\')'  bowlders  up  to  8  or  10  feet  in  diameter. 
Some  of  the  ridges  thus  formed  are  naturally  eroded ;  others  have  comparatively 
simple  fonns,  with  even  scarps  200  or  300  feet  high,  facing  the  lake,  in  which  only 
narrow  trenches  ha\-e  been  cut  It  was  e\-ident  that  these  ridges  resulted  from  the 
recent  disturbance  of  the  earlier  basin  deposits. 

THE    PIEDMONT   SLOPES   AND   VALLEYS. 

Since  the  disturbance  of  the  earlier  basin  deposits  there  has  been  time  enough 
for  the  intennittent  streams  to  fonn  the  newer  piedmont  fans  and  slopes  of  waste, 
which  now  stretch  forwai^d  for  from  3  to  10  miles  with  moderate  declivit}-  from 
the  mountain  base  to  the  lake.  Trains  of  hea\'y  bowlders  were  seen  on  some  of  the 
fans,  as  if  marking  the  paths  of  exceptionally  hea\'}-  floods.  Parts  of  these  newer 
slopes  are  of  coarse  surface  materials,  and  the  subangular  stones  there  are  darkened 
with  "desert  varnish."  Other  parts  are  more  gravelly  and  of  lighter  color,  as  if  of 
somewhat  more  recent  date.  On  both  parts  the  scant}'  herbage  is  not  alwa)'s 
uniformly  distributed,  but  sometimes  occupies  interlacing  lanes,  inclosing  barren 
spaces  a  few  feet  in  diameter.  The  delta  of  the  Ula-khol  and  the  abandoned  delta 
plains  of  the  Chu  are  also  seemingly  of  modern  date. 

At  the  east  end  of  the  lake  Mr.  Huntington  reports  the  occurrence  of  an 
extensive  plain  40  miles  broad  east  and  west  and  about  the  same  north  and  south, 


CHANGES    IN    THE    LEVEL   OF    ISSIK    KUL.  10/ 

of  cross-bedded  sands  and  gravels,  with  occasional  silty  layers,  sloping  toward  the 
lake.  Here  and  there  low  hills  rise  over  the  plain.  The  hills  are  chiefly  made  of 
silt,  but  contain  also  certain  laj-ers  of  rough  gravel  with  broken  shells  of  land 
snails.  The  bod}-  of  the  plain  is  about  200  feet  above  the  lake.  During  the 
formation  of  the  plain,  the  local  baselevel  at  the  eastern  end  of  the  lake  may  have 
been  relatively  higher  than  now,  but  whether  the  strata  of  the  plain  are  fluviatile 
or  lacustrine  does  not  clearly  appear.  Semenof  noted  the  marginal  conglomerates 
in  1856,  and  inferred  from  them  that  "the  lake  in  former  times  occupied  a  far 
more  extensive  basin"  (1869,  331).  The  same  explorer  states  that  the  mountains 
on  the  north  of  the  lake  are  named  from  the  Kirghiz  word  "kungei,''  meaning 
"toward  noon,"  and  those  on  the  south  from  "terskei,"  meaning  "toward  midnight," 
thus  referring  to  the  opposite  aspects  of  the  two  piedmont  slopes  (1858,  359). 
Severtzof  noted  in  his  journey  of  1867  that  the  Ak-su,  entering  Issik  Kul  at  the 
southeastern  corner,  had  cut  its  \-alley  through  200  feet  of  sands  and  conglomerates, 
and  inferred  from  this  that  the  lake  was  once  higher  than  now  (1875,  21  J.  Capus 
(1892,  56)  and  Schwarz  (1900,  581)  probably  base  their  statements  that  Issik  Kul 
once  stood  60  meters  higher  than  now  on  Severtzofs  obser\'ations.  All  estimates 
of  the  fonner  higher  stand  of  Issik  Kul  based  on  the  distribution  of  sands  and  con- 
glomerates seem  untrustworth}',  because  such  deposits  are  more  likely  of  fluviatile 
than  of  lacustrine  origin. 

The  piedmont  slopes  and  the  eastern  plain  are  not  now  in  their  original  condition. 
They  are  more  or  less  dissected  by  open  \alle}s  and  branching  gullies.  The  valleys 
are  not  distinct  near  the  western  end  of  the  lake.  They  are  from  50  to  70  feet 
deep  where  we  crossed  many  of  them  on  the  northern  piedmont  slope  a  few  miles 
back  from  the  midlake  shore,  but  tlie\-  decrease  to  less  and  less  depth  toward  the 
present  shoreline.  The  eastern  plain  is  well  dissected  b}-  branching  terraced  valleys 
with  open  straths.  Even  at  the  shoreline  the  valleys  at  the  middle,  and  still  more 
at  the  eastern  end  of  the  lake,  are  eroded  distinctly  beneath  the  piedmont  and  the 
eastern  plains  ;  and,  as  will  be  more  fully  stated  below,  the  lake  waters  now  invade 
the  valley  mouths,  the  invasion  being  of  increasing  measure  eastward.  It  is 
inferred  from  this  that  the  sloping  plains  were  not  graded  with  reference  to  the 
present  level  of  the  lake,  but  with  reference  to  a  lake  surface  that  descended  gently 
eastward  with  respect  to  the  present  lake  surface. 

The  valleys  emphasize  this  conclusion.  It  has  just  been  mentioned  that  they 
increase  in  depth  as  one  passes  from  west  to  east,  along  the  north  side  of  the  lake. 
The>-  were  not  noticed  at  the  west  end.  They  became  serious  obstacles  in  road 
building  near  the  middle  of  the  lake,  and  at  its  eastern  end  the  road  winds  about 
on  tlie  plain  to  avoid  them  ;  hence  it  is  probable  that  the  cause  of  the  valle\' 
erosion  should  be  associated  with  a  tilting  of  the  lake  basin,  whereb\-  the  eastern 
end  was  raised  more  than  the  western,  after  the  piedmont  slopes  and  the  eastern 
plain  had  been  fonned.  Climatic  change  is  also  to  be  considered  as  a  cause  of  the 
valley  erosion,  because  the  depth  of  the  valleys  below  the  piedmont  slopes  increases 
toward  the  mountains.  This  indicates  a  change  in  the  regime  of  the  streams,  such 
as  a  change  of  climate  commonly  produces,  and  such  as  is  commoidy  associated  with 


io8 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


a  change  from  a  glacial  to  a  tionglacial  epoch.  It  would  be  an  aid  in  the  elucida- 
tion of  these  changes  if  soundings  could  be  made  to  determine  how  far  the  pied- 
mont slopes  continue  their  present  declivity  under  the  lake,  and  how  far  forward  the 
valle\s  may  be  traced.  This  would  be  of  especial  importance  in  connection  with 
the  ruins  that  are  found  submerged  in  the  lake,  as  mentioned  below. 

The  onl)'  suggestion  that  we  can  make  as  to  the  date  when  the  piedmont  waste 
slopes  were  formed  is  based  on  the  occurrence  of  the  moraine,  already  described  as 
standing  a  little  forward  from  the  mouth  of  a  valley  in  the  Kiuigei  Ala-tau,  north 
of  Choktal  post  station,  about  1,500  feet  over  the  lake.  If  one  may  judge  by  the 
relation  of  moraines  and  aggraded  waste  slopes  elsewhere  in  the  world,  it  is  probable 


Fig.   73.-  -A  Drowned  Valley  in  the  Plain  al  the  east  end  ol  Issik  Kul,  looking  northeast. 

that  the  formation  of  this  moraine  and  the  aggradation  of  the  piedmont  slopes 
were  contemporaneous  ;  hence  the  erosion  of  the  valleys  is  of  later  date  than  the 
glacial  epoch  in  which  the  moraine  was  found.  Inasmuch  as  the  moraine  here 
referred  to  was  the  lowest  one  that  may  have  been  fonned  in  its  valley,  it  apparently 
belongs  to  the  earliest  of  the  glacial  epochs  established  in  Mr.  Huntington's  report. 
It  appears  from  the  foregoing  that  the  Issik  Kul  basin  has  long  been  suffering 
disturbance  and  receiving  waste  from  the  surrounding  mountains,  and  that  the 
latest  disturbances  of  level  have  been  greater  at  its  eastern  than  at  its  western  end. 
We  have  next  to  consider  the  more  modern  history  of  the  lake  itself. 


RECENT   CHANGES   OF    ISSIK    KUL. 


109 


THE   RECENT   CHANGES   OF   ISSIK    KUL. 

The  lake  was  lower  and  siiialler  than  it  is  now  at  a  time  not  long  past,  as  is 
shown  by  its  recent  invasion  of  the  valleys  that  have  been  worn  in  the  piedmont 
slopes.  The  low-water  stand  is  believed  to  have  been  of  later  date  than  that  of  the 
Choktal  moraine  al)ove  mentioned.  The  invasion  of  the  valleys  was  not  noticed  at 
the  western  end  of  the  lake.  It  was  first  seen  in  moderate  development  in  the 
western  quarter  of  the  northern  side,  and  became  distinct  a  little  farther  east.  It 
is  described  by  Mr.  Huntington  as  a  notable  feature  of  the  east  end  of  the  lake, 
where  the  valleys,  eroded  in  the  sandy  plain,  are  now  drowned  so  far  as  to  produce 
long,  narrow  bays.  The  scenery  of  the  plain  is  dull  and  uninteresting,  except  for 
the  \iews  of  the  surrounding  mountains ;  but  when  one  comes  unexpectedly  upon 
the  drowned  valleys,  with  their  long,  cur\-ing  lanes  of  blue  water  and  their  green 
shores,  the  view  becomes  attracti\'e  at  once  (fig.  73).  Hence,  like  the  erosion  of 
the  valleys,  their  drowning  becomes  more  pronounced  as  we  go  from  west  to  east. 
The  contrast  between  the  shorelines  at  the  northwest  end,  the  middle,  and  the 
northea.st  end  of  the  lake  is  strikingh-  shown  in  the  diagrams  of  fig.  74,  which  are 
reduced  from  the  2-verst  map. 

The  rise  of  the  lake  carried  it  to  a  higher  level  than  that  of  to-day,  but  it 
remained  there  only  long  enough  to  cut  or  build  a  series  of  moderately  developed 
shorelines,  which  were  first  recognized  by  Semenof  in  1856,  who  .said  that  the  lake 

seemed  to  have  receded  firom  them,  as  if  contracted 
in  its  bed  (1858,  359).  At  the  .southwest  corner 
of  the  lake,  where  the  bordering  plain  was  low 
and  marshy,  we  found  a  well-defined  reef  of  small 
rounded  pebbles,  3  or  4  feet  high,  25  feet  above  the 
present  shoreline,  and  a  smaller  sand  reef  at  10  feet. 
The  present  shore  was  marked  b}-  a  low  sandy 
beach  or  reef,  often  shutting  in  a  narrow  lagoon. 
At  the  northwestern  comer  of  the  lake,  low  reefs 
of  sand  or  fine  gravel  were  noted  at  heights  of  2, 
3,  5,  10,  and  25  feet.  At  Tur-aigir  station,  about 
15  miles  from  the  west  end  of  the  lake,  a  4-foot 
bluff  stands  about  a  quarter  mile  back  from  the 
shore,  with  its  base  25  feet  over  the  lake;  and  a 
beach  was  found  5  feet  o\-er  the  lake. 

It  was  near  Choktal  station  that  we  first  noted 
that  the  raised  beaches  are  of  later  date  than  the 
valleys.  One  example  from  man)-  is  illustrated  in 
fig.  75.  The  surface  of  the  piedmont  slope  is  so  smooth  that  the  general  shoreline  is 
here  notably  even  ;  but  a  small  point  is  made  by  a  trail  of  coarse  bowlders,  some  of 
which  are  8  or  10  feet  in  diameter  at  a  distance  of  3  or  4  miles  from  the  mountains. 
The  valley  here  was  6  or  8  feet  deep  and  70  or  80  feet  wide.  The  stony  25-foot  beach 
or  reef  was  prolonged  directly  across  it,  except  for  a  little  notch  by  which  a  small 
stream  escaped.     Se\eral  lower  shorelines  were  seen  in  the  \-alley  floor.     In  another 


Fig.  74. — Shorelines  ot  Issik  Kul  at  the  north- 
west end  (A),  the  middle  (B),  and  the 
northeast  end  (C)  of  the  lake,  reduced  to 
18  versts  to  an  inch  from  the  2-verst 
Russian  map. 


no 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


"III'"-.iIII///...um;, 
25  foot 


beach       "•"""". 

"li"'"'IMlll|,,„, 


=      ■'■  ?.oV 

=    ""■.„o;!,.  """"'■""" 

3         o,''o.6*"'""nii''»i((v 


example,  a  reef  15  or  20  feet  high  was  built  across  a  valley  that  was  30  or  40  feet 
deep.  In  a  third  example,  beds  of  silt  had  been  laid  on  a  valley  floor  behind  a 
reef,  but  at  present  the  reef  and  silts  are  both  trenched  b\-  the  stream,  which  is 
washing  cobbles  through  them.  In  this  district  some  trenches  of  the  25-foot  reef 
were  30  feet  wide  and  6  feet  high  on  the  outer  face,  with  cobbles  up  to  6  or  8 
inches  in  diameter;  and  one  of  the  cut  bluffs  was  8  or  10  feet  high.  East  of 
Sazanovka  Mr.  Huntington  reports  a  beach  nearly  100  feet  wide  and  a  cut  bluff 
35  feet  high.  Here  and  farther  east  the  elevated  shoreline  is  usually  indicated  on 
the  2-verst  Russian  map.  The  increase  in  the  strength  of  these  features  from 
west  to  east  is  probably  to  be  accounted  for  by  the  prevalence  of  waves  caused  by 
westerly  winds,  whose  action  would  be 
least  effective  at  the  west  end  of  the  lake. 

The  only  point  where  we  saw  a  rocky 
shoreline  was  between  Chelpan-ata  and 
Kurum-dinskya  stations,  about  50  miles 
from  the  west  end  of  the  lake,  where  a  low 
granite  bluff  rose  at  the  lake  border.  It 
stood  in  a  small  em  bay  men  t,  because  the 
piedmont  slopes  had  grown  somewliat 
farther  forward  on  each  side  of  it.  Strati- 
fied deposits  of  rather  fine  texture,  covered 
with  bowlders,  rested  on  the  lateral  slopes 
of  the  granite.  These  seemed  to  be  of 
earlier  date  than  the  modern  piedmont 
slopes.  Two  ele\-ated  beaches  ha\'e  been 
fonned  by  undercutting  the  steep  slopes 

of  angular  waste  on  the  granite  bluff,  as  in  fig.  76.  The  upper  beach  is  the  stronger 
of  the  two,  and  is  recognized  not  only  b)-  its  fonn,  but  by  the  abrupt  change  from 
angular  blocks  above  its  line  to  rounded  cobbles  below.  Here  only  was  an)-  direct 
suggestion  found  as  to  the  relative  date  of  the  two  beaches.  It  seemed  that,  if  the 
lower  one  had  been  made  first,  it  would  have  been  more  obscured  than  it  is  by 
waste  from  the  upper  one  ;  hence  the  lake  probabl)'  rose  rapidl)-  to  the  25-foot  beach 
and  paused  during  its  fall  at  the  lo-foot  beach. 

At  the  eastern  end  of  the  lake,  the  highest  beach  is  described  b)-  Mr.  Hunting- 
ton as  contouring  around  all  the  land  arms  that  separate  the  drowned  valleys  of 
the  plain.  Its  height  there  is  given  as  30  feet.  The  2-verst  map  shows  the  shore- 
line then  to  have  been  even  more  irregular  than  it  is  now.  The  beach  is  easily 
distinguished  from  the  valley  terraces,  for  it  runs  at  a  level  and  ends  somewhat 
inland  from  the  bay  heads,  where  the  valle)-  floors  rise  to  its  level ;  while  the  terraces 
have  sloping  floors  and  extend  farther  up  the  vallej-s. 

When  Issik  Kul  was  first  described  to  us  as  a  lake  without  an  outlet  and  with 
abandoned  shorelines,  we  had  hopes  of  finding  a  record  that  might  compare  with  that 
of  the  Bonneville  basin,  but  there  seems  to  be  little  likeness  between  the  two.  Issik 
Kul  only  just  fails  of  having  an  outlet  to-day,  and,  as  will  be  shown  below,  its  level  has 
probably  been  regelated  by  overflow  to  the  ri\'er  Chu  through  much  of  its  subrecent 


J'SsiK      KIJL 


Fig.  75.  — Diagram  of  the  relation  ot  a  Valley,  the  raised 
Beaches,  and  the  present  Shoreline  of  Issik  Kul. 


RELATIONS   OF   THE    RIVER    CIIU    TO    ISSIK    KUL.  Ill 

histon-.  Its  abandoned  shorelines  seemed  to  be  more  recent  than  the  glacial  epoch, 
and  the  variations  that  t!ie\-  represent  are  perhaps  as  well  explained  by  the  varying 
relations  between  the  river  and  the  lake  as  by  climatic  changes  ;  but  it  is  evident 
that  the  two  processes  may  ha\-e  worked  together. 

RELATIONS    OF    THE    RIVER    CHU    TO    ISSIK    KUL. 

Issik  Kill  at  present  has  no  outlet,  and  the  lake  water  is  very  slightly  brackish. 
The  Kute-maldy,  a  short  outgoing  branch  at  the  elbow  of  the  Chu  (K,  fig.  43),  flows 
into  the  lake  at  its  western  end.  When  seen  on  the  map,  this  stream  would  naturally 
be  taken  for  the  lake  outlet ;  so  indeed  Humboldt  and  Ritter  are  said  to  have  thought. 
Various  legends  are  current  around  the  lake  as  to  the  origin  of  the  Kute-maldy.  A 
postmaster  gave  us  a  ver\-  circumstantial  stor\'  of  how  a  Kirghiz  khan,  some  fifty 
years  ago,  tried  to  drown  out  his  enemies  down  the  valley  of  the  Chu  by  cutting  a 
canal  from  the  lake  to  the  river,  hoping  in  this  way  to  create  a  devastating  flood  ;  but 
the  lake  proved  to  be  lower  than  the  river,  instead  of  higher,  as  had  been  expected, 
and  so  the  water  ran  the  wrong  way.  Another  postmaster  told  us  most  explicitly 
that  a  canal  was  cut  by  the  Kirghiz,  about  thirty 
years  ago,  so  as  to  drown  out  Tokmak  and  other 
Russian  towns  in  the  lower  Chu  Valley  by  a  flood 
from  the  lake.  When  the  ends  of  the  canal  were 
opened,  the  water  ran  in  both  from  the  lake  and 
from  the  river,  but  the  current  from  the  ri\'er 
overcame  that  from  the  lake,  and  since  then  the 
flow  has  been  into  the  lake.  He  added  that  the 
originally  straight  canal  has  become  winding  by  ^'^-  ''-'!^^^:J^^S;^t^'- 
the  action  of  the  stream.     Still  a  third  account  is 

that  the  Kirghiz  found  the  lake  was  slowly  rising  on  their  fields,  and  that  they  cut  a 
canal  to  the  river,  hoping  thereby  to  lower  the  water.  It  is  \erA-  doubtful  whether 
there  is  any  truth  in  these  stories.  In  1856  Semenof  saw  a  small  marsh  at  the  elbow 
of  the  Chu,  from  which  a  tiny  rivulet  flowed  to  the  lake  (1869,  322).  A  little  later, 
Venyukof  noted  the  winding  course  of  the  Kute-maldy  and  considered  it  a  natural 
bifurcation  of  the  Chu  (i860,  395).  In  1859  Golubef  described  the  Kute-maldv  as 
an  artificial  canal.  "  The  water  in  it  is  nearly  stagnant,  and  barometrical  leveling 
did  not  show  any  perceptible  difference  between  the  levels  of  the  lake  and  the  Chu  " 
(1861,  369).  Osten-Sacken  saw  the  Kute-maldy  in  1867  as  a  shallow,  sluggish, 
winding,  muddy  stream,  with  a  delta  at  its  mouth  (1869,  28).  The  last  description 
applies  to  the  stream  as  we  found  it  in  1903.  Its  channel  is  said  to  be  left  nearl)- 
dry  wheu  the  water  in  the  Chu  is  low. 

In  view  of  the  delta-like  form  of  the  gravel  plains  between  the  present  course 
of  the  Chu  and  the  lake,  there  is  no  sufficient  reason  for  susjiccting  that  the  Kute- 
maldy  is  anything  but  a  natural  distributary-  of  the  main  river,  from  which  it  can 
hardly  divert  more  than  a  twentieth  part  of  its  volume. 

It  is  interesting  to  inquire  what  effect  would  be  produced  on  the  lake  if  the 
whole  current  of  the  Chu  were  turned  into  it,  and  for  this  purpose  the  following 
numerical  data  are]  pertinent.     According  to  the  40-verst  Russian  map,  Issik  Kul 


112 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


occupies  about  two-fifths  of  the  total  area  of  its  catchment  basin,  the  upper  Chu 
basin  not  included.  The  surrounding  mountains,  from  which  most  of  the  water 
sujiply  is  received,  proba1)ly  occupies  as  nnich  surface  as  the  lake,  leavinj^  one-fifth 
of  the  catchment  basin  as  valleys  and  piedmont  slopes.  The  drainage  basin  of  the 
upper  Chu  system,  southwest  from  the  lake,  is  in  area  about  a  quarter  of  the  present 
Issik  Kill  basin,  or  roughly  a  half  of  the  mountain  area  that  drains  into  the  lake. 
Inasmuch  as  the  chief  upper  branches  of  the  Chu,  the  Kach-kar  and  the  Juvan- 
arik,  come  from  among  high  ranges,  it  is  evident  that  their  volume  nuist  be  a 
considerable  fraction  of  the  total  water  supply  that  tlie  lake  now  receives ;  not, 
however,  so  large  a  fraction  as  their  drainage  area  would  suggest,  for  the  mountains 
southeast  of  Issik  Kul  are  lofty,  and  we  were  told  that  many  large  streams  flow 
from  them.  If  liberal  allowance  be  made  for  this,  the  upper  Chu  might  be  taken  as 
yielding  perhaps  a  twentieth  of  the  present  supply  of  Issik  Kul ;  hence  if  the  upper 
Chu  were  turned  into  the  lake,  its  surface  ought  to  expand  by  a  twentieth  part,  if 
it  did  Hot  overflow  to  the  lower  Chu  before  such  an  expansion  was  accomplislied. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  the  lake  stood  at  the  25-foot  shoreline,  its  area  could 
hardly  have  been  increased  by  a  twentieth  of  its  present  surface.  Hence  it  is 
probable  that  if  the  Chu  should  now  be  turned  into  the  lake,  its  surface  would  rise 
to  the  25-foot  shoreline,  if  a  barrier  of  that  height  existed  at  the  outlet;  and  there 
might  be  some  water  to  spare  for  overflow.  It  has 
already  been  shown  that  the  delta-like  plains  between 
the  Chu  and  the  western  end  of  Issik  Kul  indicate  that 
the  river  has  entered  the  lake.  Evidence  will  now  be 
presented  to  show  that  an  overflowing  outlet  has  prob- 
ablv  generally  existed  during  the  subrecent  histor\-  of 
the  lake.  This  evidence  is  found,  first,  in  the  eastward 
increase  in  tlie  depth  of  valley  erosion,  and,  second,  in 
the  eastward  increase  in  the  depth  of  valley  drowning,  already  stated.  To  appre- 
ciate this  curious  case,  a  preliminan,-  statement  will  be  serviceable. 

The  problem  before  us  is  to  discover  the  conditions  under  which  a  lake,  A  B, 
(figs.  77,  78)  may  preserve  its  shoreline  at  A  nearly  constant,  while  it  sinks  from 
B  to  D  (E)  and  rises  from  D  to  G  (H).  Let  us  first  inquire  how  such  changes  can 
be  produced  in  a  lake  without  an  outlet. 

Let  the  area  of  the  lake,  A  B,  be  such  as  to  strike  a  balance  between  the  rainfall 
on  its  entire  drainage  basin  and  the  evaporation  from  its  surface.     If  the  climate 

remain  constant  and  regional  tilting  occur,  with  uplift 
on  the  right,  as  in  fig.  77,  the  lake  will  sink  from  B  to  D 
and  rise  from  A  to  C,  thus  preser\'ing  its  area  unchanged. 
In  order  that  the  shoreline  .shall  remain  at  A  during 
uplift,  the  climate  must  become  just  enough  more  arid 
to  reduce  the  lake  area  so  that  its  surface  shall  be  E  A, 
instead  of  D  C.  On  the  other  hand,  if  depression  occur 
on  the  right,  as  in  fig.  78,  the  lake  will  change  from 
A  B  to  F  G.  In  this  case  the  shore  can  be  held  at  A  only  by  climatic  change 
towards  more  humidity  of  just  such  amoxmt  as  to  expand  the  surface  to  H  A.     It  is 


Fig.  77. — Effect  of  tilting  on  an  in- 
closed lake ;  uplift  on  the  right. 


Fig.  78. — Effect  of    tilting  on  an  in- 
closed lake;  uplift  on  the  left. 


RELATIONS    OF    THE    RIVER    CIIU    TO    ISSIK    KUL.  II3 

evident,  then,  that  the  maintenance  of  the  lake  shore  at  A  in  a  lake  without  outlet 
involves  an  extremely  improbable  correlation  of  two  independent  processes — a 
balancing-  or  tilting  of  the  region  and  an  external  climatic  change.  Hence  a  lake 
in  which  the  shoreline  remains  nearly  fixed  at  A,  while  it  sinks  to  D  (E)  and  rises 
to  G  (H),  must  in  all  probability  be  unlike  the  lake  here  postulated ;  that  is,  it  must 
be  provided  with  an  outlet,  instead  of  being  without  one. 

It  is  plain  enough  that  an  ov-erflowing  lake  will  keep  its  shoreline  fixed  at  the 
outlet,  however  much  it  may  change  elsewhere  on  account  of  a  tilting  of  its  basin. 
Hence  there  can  be  no  cjuestion  that  the  recent  valley  erosion  and  valley  drowning 
around  Issik  Kul  are  Ix'tter  accounted  for  by  the  example  of  a  lake  with,  and  not 
without,  an  outlet;  and  it  therefore  seems  reasonable  to  conclude  that  the  present 
relations  of  the  Cliu  to  Issik  Kul  is  exceptional,  and  tliat  the  river  lias  generally 
flowed  into  and  out  from  the  lake.  Under  such  conditions  it  may  well  be  that  the 
overflowing  river  was  a  comparatively  small  one ;  and  it  is  possible  that  the  heavy 
valley  deposits,  now  dissected,  in  the  Chu  Valley  for  the  first  20  miles  west  of  Issik 
Kul  were  accumulated  there  at  a  time  when  the  river  was  too  weak  to  sweep  them 
away,  as  well  as  because  of  the  block  faulting  of  the  neighboring  ranges,  as 
suggested  in  an  earlier  section.  Indeed,  there  is  a  point  about  5  miles  west  of  Issik 
Kul  where  the  fans  from  the  range  on  the  north  would  close  the  outlet  valley,  or 
raise  its  floor  100  or  150  feet  o\'er  the  present  lake,  if  their  slope  were  continued 
forward  from  their  now  dissected  mass ;  and  it  may  be  that  when  these  fans  were 
formed  Issik  Kul  temporarily  had  no  overflow. 

We  are  thus  led  to  think  that  Issik  Kul  has  generally  had  a  water  supply 
sufficient  to  cause  overflow  during  the  snbrecent  time  of  the  erosion  and  the 
drowning  of  the  valleys  in  its  surrounding  slopes  of  piedmont  waste,  and  that  the 
Chu  has  frequentl}-  or  usually  been  an  aflSuent  of  the  lake ;  also,  that  the  fall  of  the 
lake  from  its  25-foot  shoreline  to  its  present  level  ma}-  be  explained,  in  good  part 
at  least,  by  the  diversion  of  the  Chu  past  the  west  end  of  the  lake,  as  well  as  by 
climatic  change.  It  might  be  possible,  by  means  of  soundings,  to  extend  the  time 
to  which  these  inferences  apply,  so  as  to  include  the  earlier  period  in  which  the 
piedmont  slopes  and  the  eastern  plain  were  aggraded. 

It  is,  on  the  other  hand,  probable  that  the  outlet  of  the  lake  may  often  have 
been  of  so  small  a  volume  that  it  ceased  to  overflow  during  arid  epochs  of  secular 
duration,  as  well  as  during  dry  seasons.  It  is  quite  possible  that  the  present  era  of 
desiccation  may  be  of  the  former  character,  and  in  this  connection  it  is  noteworthy 
that,  according  to  Schwarz,  the  level  of  Issik  Kul  was  lowered  b)-  2  meters  from 
1867  to  1877  (1900,  581).  It  should  not,  however,  be  forgotten  that  the  inferences 
here  offered  are  tentative.  The  history  of  the  lake  is  evidently  too  complicated  to 
be  deciphered  in  a  week's  visit  to  part  of  its  shores.  It  is  a  most  inviting  field  for 
further  study,  and  all  the  more  so  when  its  relation  to  human  settlement  is 
considered,  as  will  appear  in  a  later  section. 


114  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


NOTES  ON  ARCHEOLOGY. 

Brief  mention  has  already  been  made  of  the  mins  and  mounds  on  the  plains. 
They  arc  fnrthcr  considered  in  reports  by  other  members  of  the  expedition.  The 
following  notes  concern  localities  that  were  visited  on  the  jomney  from  Andizhan 
to  Issik  Knl. 

MOUND.S  ON  THE  (EASTERN)  KUGART  TERRACE. 

Near  the  tenninal  mass  of  the  great  landslide  of  the  (eastern)  Kngart,  on  the 
high  terrace  plain  over  the  Kirghiz  bridge,  we  saw  20  to  30  small  mounds,  from 
20  to  25  feet  in  diameter  and  from  3  to  5  feet  high,  made  mostly  of  earth,  with 
cobbles  from  the  terrrace  and  small  angular  blocks  from  the  landslide.  Smaller 
mounds,  from  5  to  8  feet  in  diameter  and  4  feet  in  height,  were  made  wholly  of 
stones.  No  chipped  stones  were  found  near  them.  No  such  mounds  as  these  were 
seen  in  the  summer  camps  of  the  Kirghiz,  and  hence  we  ascribe  them  to  some 
earlier  people. 

STONE   CIRCLES   NEAR   SON   KDL. 


On  the  gently  inclined  piedmont  slopes  that  descend  to  the  OO^ 

southeast  shore  of  Son  Kul,  a  mile  or  more  from  the  lake,  we  found  Q.     0 

a  row  of  stone  circles.     Our  guide  said  they  marked  the  camp  of  ^° 

a  powerful  khan  who  iised  to  occupy  this  district,  but  the  Kirghiz  ^^  o_ 

are  not  to  be  trusted  in  such  matters.     The  circles  were  nine  in  §    a5 

number,  unevenly  spaced,  but  set  on  a  nearl}-  north  and  south  line,  /« 

bearing  N.  8°  W.  magnetic.     They  are  11  or  12  feet  in  diameter,  o<^ 

each  one  containing  eight  stones  from  3  to  5  feet  in  diameter,  all  O^O  s? 

of  granite   from   the   mountains  a    mile   or   more  to  the  south.  9s 

The  fourth  and  eighth  circles  have  been  disturbed.     The  general  qq    _Q 

arrangement  of  the  stones  is  indicated  in  fig.  79,  which  shows  the  Q      n     "^ 

lateral  displacement  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  circles,  and  indicates  '^      •*'' 

the  distance  between  the  successive  circles,  as  determined  by  pacing.  ^      Q 

A  standing  stone,   rising  4  feet  above  the  ground,  is  set  in  a  O*^  as 

15-foot  circle  of  small   stones,  60  feet  east  of  the  ninth   circle.  o*    *^ 

North  or  northeast  of  the  row  of  circles,  28  small  gravel  mounds  ^c5^°'''' 

occur  within  a  few  hundred  feet,  and  a  5-foot  standing  stone  is  O    OO 

seen  by  the  trail  500  or  600  feet  to  the  west.     A  mile  or  more  to  ^    O 


42 


the  east  there  are  several  earth  mounds,  5  or  6  feet  high  and  from  i^^'Zi 

30  to  50  feet  in  diameter.     Four  of  them  are  nearly  on  a  N.  12°  W.  '^o  cp^ 

(magnetic)  line.     The  others  are  placed  irregularl)-.     No  chipped  p.    ^g _sione  C 

stones  or  flakes  were  found  by  anj-  of  the  circles  or  mounds.     Two  near  Lake  Son  Kul. 

standing  stones  on  a  mound  on  the  plain  northeast  of  Son  Kul  b^tt^n'the  arel^u 

have  human  faces  rudelv  carved  in  outline  on  a  flat  surface.   Regel  indicated  in  figures  on 

,,._..,'  the  right. 

makes  mention  of  similar  monuments  (1879,  414). 


NOTES   ON    ARCHEOLOGY.  I  15 


OLD    CANALS    NEAR   SON    KUL. 


The  well-grassed  foothills  of  the  Kok-tal  range  north  of  the  Son  Kul  outlet  bore 
the  marks  of  ancient  irrigating  canals  that  gave  us  much  surprise,  as  the  region 
does  not  suffer  from  dryness  to-day.  The  abundant  pasture  on  the  foothills  and  the 
piedmont  slopes  is  testified  to  b}-  the  great  number  of  cattle  driven  up  there  for  the 
summer  by  the  Kirghiz.  The  canals  are  now  almost  obliterated,  yet  they  are 
indubitably  of  artificial  origin.  The  Kirghiz  seemed  to  know  nothing  about  them. 
They  have  been  so  far  filled  by  the  creeping  of  waste  from  the  upper  slope  that 
they  appear  as  benches  5  or  10  feet  wide,  instead  of  as  channels.  They  lead  with 
gentle  descent  from  a  stream  along  a  hillside  at  different  levels.  Gullies,  more  or 
less  grassed  over,  often  descend  the  slope  below  the  canals,  marking  the  paths  of 
accidental  o\-erflows. 

Similar  nearly  obliterated  canals  were  seen  on  one  of  the  northern  spurs  of 
the  Kok-tal  range  as  we  descended  from  the  Kum-ashu  Pass  into  the  Tuluk  Valley. 
Their  course  was  observed  to  better  advantage  the  next  day,  when  we  stood  on  the 
large  moraines  on  the  north  side  of  the  valley  and  looked  across  to  all  the  spurs  on 
the  other  side  at  once.  Three  canals  were  then  seen  on  one  spur  at  different  levels. 
The  uppermost,  estimated  to  be  700  feet  above  the  Tuluk-su,  pa.ssed  around  the 
ridge  line  of  its  spur  and  turned  into  the  next  ravine  on  the  east.  Another  one  on 
a  neighboring  spur  ran  out  to  the  spur  ridge,  and  then  followed  down  the  ridge 
into  the  main  valley.  As  on  the  other  side  of  the  range,  these  old  canals  all  started 
at  a  stream  and  led  forward  on  the  side  of  a  spur,  and  down-slope  gullies  from  the 
canals  frequenth-  marked  the  paths  of  overflows. 

THE    ISSIK    KUL    DISTRICT. 

The  car\-ed  standing  stone,  shown  in  fig.  80  was  photographed  by  Mr.  Hunt- 
ington on  the  plain  at  the  east  end  of  Issik  Kul.  The  following  notes  are  from  the 
same  observer.  Walls  or  mounds  are  found  at  ten  or  twehe  places  on  the  fertile 
piedmont  plains  northeast  of  the  lake.  They  are  generally  arranged  in  lines  run- 
ning roughly  north  and  south.  Those  that  were  examined  consisted  of  a  circular 
or  oval  wall  of  cobble  stones,  from  10  to  30  feet  high,  covered  with  earth.  In  the 
smaller  examples  the  center  also  was  filled  with  earth,  so  as  to  fonn  a  mound.  In 
the  larger  examples  the  center  was  unfilled,  and  fonned  a  hollow  within  the  wall. 
The  only  clue  as  to  the  age  of  these  monuments  in  relation  to  the  history-  of  Issik 
Kul  was  furnished  b\-  a  small  mound,  14  miles  east  of  Sazanovka.  The  mound  in 
question  stands  on  the  edge  of  the  bluff,  the  base  of  which  has  been  cut  back  by  the 
30-foot  shoreline  (the  same  shoreline  is  at  25  feet  over  the  lake  farther  west),  and 
the  edge  of  the  mound  has  thus  been  cut  back  so  that  one-third  of  its  area  is  under- 
mined and  lost.  The  cobbles  and  bowlders  of  which  the  wall  of  the  mound  was 
made  are  scattered  at  the  base  of  the  bluff  It  would  thus  appear  that  the  mound- 
builders  lived  around  Issik  Kul  before  the  30-foot  beach  line  was  abandoned  by 
the  lake. 


ii6 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


The  occurrence  of  ruins  beneath  the  lake  waters  was  noted  b)'  Semenof  in  his 
journey  in  1857.  He  was  told  of  the  remains  of  an  old  city  under  the  lake,  about 
half  a  verst  from  its  northeast  shore  (1858,  360).  Other  travelers  make  similar 
reports,  but  nothing  definite  seems  to  be  known.  We  were  shown  a  square  brick, 
about  10  inches  on  a  side  and  2  inches  thick,  that  was  said  to  have  been  dredged 
from  these  ruins.  Mr.  Hinitington  was  told,  on  the  good  authority  of  General 
Korolkof,  at  I'rzhevalsk,  that  the  ruins  can  now  be  .seen  on  the  lake  ])ottom  "in 


Fig.  80. — A  Carved  Stone  on  the  plain  at  the  east  end  of  Issik  Kul.  looking  south. 

water  of  considerable  depth."  There  is  no  direct  evidence  to  determine  the  date  of 
the  jjeriod  of  low  water  during  which  the  houses  now  submerged  were  built;  but 
Mr.  Huntington  points  out  that  brick  houses  are  presumably  of  more  modem 
constniction  than  cobblestone  walls,  and  hence  that  the  submerged  houses  were 
probably  built  during  a  low-water  stand,  after  the  high-water  stand  recorded  in  the 
30-foot  beach.  The  fact  that  the  bricks  can  be  seen  on  the  lake  bottom,  not  yet 
buried  bj-  silts,  points  to  the  same  conclusion.  The  lake  ought  to  be  carefully 
sounded  and  dredged. 


CONCLUSION.  I  I  7 


CONCLUSION. 


Many  problems  that  are  touched  upon  in  this  and  the  following  reports  deser\-e 
much  more  study  than  we  have  been  able  to  give  them  thus  far.  Some  of  them 
bear  directly  upon  the  objects  of  our  expedition  ;  some  are  of  general  interest.  Of 
the  first  class,  the  oscillations  of  the  Caspian  stand  preeminent,  and  the  desert 
depression,  known  as  the  Ungus,  seems  to  be  the  most  important  district  for  next 
examination  in  this  connection.  In  view  of  what  is  known  of  climatic  variations 
during  Quaternary  time  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  it  is  hardly  possible  that  the 
Aralo-Caspiau  history  is  of  only  one  expansion;  and  whatever  complications  it 
experienced  would  probably  have  left  their  record  on  the  bluffs  and  slopes  that 
border  this  desert  depression.  At  the  same  time,  the  confirmation  of  our  conclusions 
regarding  the  complexity  of  the  Glacial  period  b}-  further  study  of  moraines  and 
terraces,  especially  in  the  Alai  ranges  and  the  Pamir,  is  much  to  be  desired.  Then 
would  come  the  connection  of  these  two  classes  of  unlike  records — lacustrine  and 
glacial — by  aiu-  means  that  can  be  devised,  along  the  mountains  on  the  south  or 
across  the  desert  plains,  thus  gaining  a  correlation  of  the  events  of  Quaternary 
time  in  the  three  physiographic  provinces  of  the  western  Asiatic  region  and 
bringing  the  archeological  remains  of  the  plains  into  their  place  on  the  geological 
time-scale.  Of  subordinate  value,  but  by  no  means  unimportant,  are  the  problems 
connected  with  the  deposits  of  loess.     Those  south  of  Jizak  deserve  first  attention. 

Issik  Kul  is  a  problem  by  itself  Geology,  physiographj-,  and  archeology-  are 
there  combined  in  the  most  inviting  manner.  A  long  season  in  that  field  alone 
would  be  highly  productive. 

.Vn  outstanding  problem  of  importance  in  its  bearing  on  theoretical  geolog)'  is 
found  in  the  structure  of  the  Tian  Shan  ranges.  For  this  purpose  the  region  could 
be  entered  to  ad\-antage  from  the  north,  and  a  deliberate  stud}-  made  of  the  pene- 
plains and  fault-block  mountain  ranges  o\-er  which  our  party  had  to  pass  so  rapidly. 
Few  finer  fields  are  open  to  the  investigator. 


Il8  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

LIST  OF  REFERENCES. 

The  following  list  of  authors  and  articles  makes  no  attempt  to  include  all  that 
has  been  written  on  Western  Asia,  but  only  to  present  those  essays  that  bear  most 
directly  on  the  problems  here  discussed.  The  list  is,  however,  unfortunately  incom- 
plete in  many  respects,  inasmuch  as  the  libraries  accessible  during  the  preparation  of 
this  report  have  been  found  deficient  in  regard  to  Russian  explorations  in  Asia. 

The  names  of  Russian  authors  cited  are  turned  into  English  phonetic  spelling. 
The  sch,  tsch,  and  dsch  of  the  German  transliteration  and  the  soft  ch  of  the  French 
are  avoided,  unless  the  article  cited  is  in  German  or  French;  in  that  case  the 
published  transliteration  is  given  in  parentheses.  The  terminal  tch,  which  is  so 
generally  used,  is  continued  instead  of  the  English  hard  ch.  English  translations  of 
Russian  titles  of  articles  are  inclosed  in  parentheses. 

G.  V.  Almasy.  Reise  nach  West-Turkestan  imd  in  den  centralen  Tienshan.  Mitt.  k.  k.  geogr.  Ges. 
Wien,  xliv,  1901,  239-261. 

N.  I.  Andrusof.  (Sketch  of  historical  development  of  the  Caspian  Sea  and  its  inhabitants:  in  Rus- 
sian).   Isvestia  Imp.  Russ.  Geogr.  Soc,  xxiv,  1888,  91-114. 

(.\ndrussow).     Beitrage  zur  Kenntniss  des  Kaspischen  Neogen:    Die  Aktschlagylschichten. 

Mem.  Com.  Geol.  St.  Pet.,  xv,  No.  4,  1902. 

K.  I.  BocD-\NOviiCH.  Compte  rendu  prelirainaire  sur  les  reeherches  orogeologiques  dans  la  partie 
imontagneuse  de  la  region  transcaspienne  et  des  provinces  boreales  de  la  Perse  (French  title 
and  abstract  in  original  Russian  article).     Bull.  Com.  (ieol.  St.  Pet.,  vi,  1887,  66-104. 

E.   BRticKNER.     Klimaschwankungen   seit    1700.     Penok's  Geogr.  Abhandl.,  iv,  1890,  No.  2. 

G.  Capus.     a  travers  le  royaume  de  Tamerlane.     Paris,  1892. 

M.  Friedrichsen.  Morphologic  des  Tien-Schan.  Zeitschr.  Ges.  Erdk.  Berlin,  xxxiv,  1899,  1-62, 
193-271,  map. 

Beitrage  zur  morphologic  des  zentralcn  Ticn-Schan.    Pet.  imitt.,  xlix,  1903,  134-137. 

G.  K.  Gilbert.  Report  upon  the  geology  of  portions  of  Nevada,  Utah  ...  in  Report  upon  geo- 
graphical and  geological  explorations  and  surveys  west  of  the  one  hundredth  meridian 
(Wheeler's  Survey)  :    Vol.  Ill,  Geology.     Washington,  1875. 

A.  GoLUBEF.  Brief  sketch  of  the  results  of  the  Issik-kul  e-xpedition  (translation).  Journ.  Roy. 
Geogr.   Soc,  xxxi,   1861,  366-370.     The  same  in  German  in  ErmaJi's  .\rchiv.,  xx,  i860,  20-37. 

A.  M.  KoxsHiN.  (Preliminary  report  on  the  results  of  geological  and  physiographic  investigations 
in  the  Turkomanian  depression:    in  Russian).     Isvestia  Imp.  Russ.  Geogr.  Soc,  xxii,  1886, 

379-439. 

(Konschin).     Gcologischer  Ueberblick  Transkaspiens.     Pet.  Mitt.,  xxxiii,  1887,  226-244. 

(The  ancient  course  of  the  Amu  darya:  in  Russian).     Sapiski  Caucas.  Division,  Imp.  Russ. 

Geogr.  Soc,  xv,  1893,  1-21.    Abstract  in  Ann.  de  Geogr.  v,  1896,  496-504. 

(The  ancient  course  of  the  Amu  darya:  in  Russian).    Sapiski  Imp.  Russ.  Geogr.  Soc,  xxxiii, 

1897,  1-256. 

P.  Lessar.    L'ancienne  jonction  de  I'Oxus  avec  la  mar  caspienne.     C.   R.   Congr.   internat.   geogr., 

Paris,  i,  1889,  706-727. 
I.  V.  MusHKETOF.     (Turkestan :    geologic  and  orographic  description   from  data  gathered  during 

journeys  in  the  years  1874-1880:   in  Russian).    Vol.  I,  St.  Petersburg,  1886. 

(Muschketof).    Das  Erdbeben  von  Wernoje  vom  28  Mai,  1887.    Mem.  Com.  Geol.  St.  Pet.,  x, 

1890,  141-154- 

(Short  sketch  of  the  geological  formation  of  the  Transcaspian  region:    in  Russian).     Proc 

Imp.  Russ.  Min.  Soc,  2  sen,  xxviii,  1891,  391-429,  map. 

•    (Physical  Geology:   in  Russian).    Vol.  I,  St.  Petersburg,  2d  ed.,  1899. 

M.  Neumayr.    Die  Aralo-Kaspi  Niederung.    Verhandl.  k.  k.  Reichsanst.,  1875,  31-33. 
V.  A.  Obruchef.     (The  sands  and  steppes  of  the  Transcaspian  region:   in  Russian).    Isvestia  Imp. 
Russ.  Geogr.  Soc,  xxiii,  1887,  174-190. 

(The  trans-Caspian  depression :     Geologic  and  orographic  sketch  from  data  collected  during 

an  excursion  in  i886-'87-'88 :    in  Russian.)     Sapiski  Imp.  Russ.  Geogr.  Soc,  xx,  1890,  1-260. 


AUTHORS   AND   ARTICLES   CITED.  II9 

Fr.  v.  d.  Osten-Sacken  and  F.  J.  Ruprecht.  Sertiim  Tianschanicum.  Botannische  Ergebnisse 
einer  Reise  im  mittleren  Tian-Schan.    Mem.  Acad.  Imp.  Sci.  St.  Pet.,  8  ser.,  xiv,  1869,  No.  4. 

N.  G.  Petrusevitch  (Petrussewitsch).  Die  Turkmcnen  zwischen  dem  alten  Bett  des  Amu-Darya 
(Usboi)  and  der  Nordgrenze  Persiens.    Zeitschr.  wi.ss.  Geogr.,  i,  1880,  194-202. 

A.  Phiuppsom.     Das  russische  Flaohland.    Zeitschr.  Ges.  Erdk.  Berlin,  .xxxiii,  1898,  37-68. 

A.  Regel.    Reisen  in  Central-Asien,  1876-79.     Pet.  Mitt.,  xxv,  1879,  408-417. 

E.  Richter.     Geomorphologische   Untersudiungen  in  den  Hochalpen.    Pet.  Mitt  Erganz'h,  No.  132, 

I  goo. 

V.  RoBOROVSKV.  Progress  of  the  Russian  expedition  to  Central  Asia  under  Col.  Pievtsoflf  (transla- 
tion).   Proc.  Roj'.  Geogr.  Soc,  xii,  1890,  19-36. 

G.  St.  h'ES.    Dans  le  Tian  Chan  russe.    Ann.  de  Geogr.,  vii,  1898,  201-215;  ix,  1900,  119-140. 

F.  V.  SCHWARZ.    Turkestan.     Freiburg  i.     Br.,  1900. 

P.  V.  SemEnof  (Semenow).     Erforschungsreisen  in  Inner-Asien  im  Jahre,  1857.     Pet.  Mitt.,  1858, 

351-369- 

Narrative  of  an  exploring  expedition  from  Fort  Vernoye  to  the  western  short  of  the  Issik- 

kul  Lake   (translation).     Journ.  Roy.  Geogr.  Soc,  xxxix,  1869,  311-338. 

N.  Severtzof  (Sewerzow).  Erforschung  des  Thian-Schan  Gebirgssystems,  1867.  Pet.  Mitt.,  Er- 
ganz'h., No.  42,  1875. 

G.  SiEVERS.    Die  russische  Expedition  naoh  dem  alten  Oxus-Bette    .    .    .    1872.    Pet.  Mitt.,  xix,  1873, 

287-292. 
H.  SjoEGREN.     Om  aralokaspiska  hafvet  och  nordeuropeiska  glaciationem.     Stockholm  Vet.   Akad. 

Forh,  xlv,  1888,  155-167. 
E.  SuESS.    La  Face  de  la  Terre  (Das  Antlitz  der  Erde),  traduit   .    .    .    sous  la  direction  de  Emm. 

de  Margerie.     Paris,  I,  1897;  II,  1900. 
G.  Tarnowski.    Bericht  uber  das  transkaspisciie  Gebiet,  1891  und  1892.    Askhabad,  1893.    Noticed  in 

Pet.  Mitt.,  Lit.  Ben,  xli,  1895,  100. 
M.  Venyukof  (Wenjukow).     Bemerkungen  iiber  den    See    Issyk-kul    und    den    Fluss    Kosch-kar. 

Erman's  Archiv.,  xx,  i860,  388-399. 
A.  VoSNESENSKY  (Wosnessenskij).    Ueber  das  Erdbenben  in  und  um  Wernyj  im  Jahre  1887  und 

ihre  Beziehung  zu  meteorlogische  Vorgangen.    Repert.  f.  Met.,  xii,  1888,  No.  4. 
J.  Walther.    Das  Oxusproblem  in  historischer  und   geologischer    Beleuchtung.      Pet.    Mitt.,    xliv, 

1898,  204-214.  » 

•    Das  Gesetz  der  Wiistenbildung.     Berlin,  Reimer,  1900. 

G.  F.  Wright.    Recent  geological  changes  in  northern  and  central  Asia.     Quart.  Journ.  Geol.  Soc, 

Ivii,  1901,  244-250. 
E.  Yakoflef  (Jakowlew).    Zur  Geologic  der  Aralo-Kaspischen  Niederung  (mitgetheilt  von  G.  v. 

Helmersen).     Bull.  Imp.  Acad.   Sci.,  St.  Pet.,  xxviii,  1882,  364-376. 


Physiographic  Observations  Between  the  Syr  Darya 
AND  Lake  Kara  Kul,  on  the  Pamir,  in  1903. 


By  RAPHAEL  W.  PUMPELLY. 


121 


Physiographic  Observations  Between  the  Syr  Darya 
AND  Lake  Kara  Kul,  on  the  Pamir,  in  1903. 


By  Raphael  W.  Pumpelly. 


DESCRIPTION    OF   THE    ROUTE. 

Fergana  forms  the  southeastern  extension  of  West  Turkestan.  Its  southern 
half,  the  Pamir,  is,  so  to  speak,  the  corner  stone  between  the  Russian  and  English 
possessions  and  between  China  and  Afghanistan.  The  district  of  Fergana  is 
naturally  divided  into  five  parts.  On  the  south  is  the  high  plateau  of  the  Pamir, 
with  its  gra\-  desert  steppes  and   snow-clad  mountain  ranges,  its  dark  lakes  and 


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Fig.  81. — A  Skeleton  Map  o(  Fergana. 

its  few  long,  crooked  streams.  Bordering  this  plateau  on  the  nortli  is  the  long, 
white,  east-west  range  of  the  Trans-Alai,  with  the  great  snow  fields  and  snake-like 
glaciers  of  its  northern  flank,  abniptly  ending  in  the  broad  green  lawn  of  the  Alai 
Valley.  Separating  this  lawn  from  the  lowland  plains  of  tlie  north  is  the  complex 
mass  of  the  Alai  Mountains,  with  its  irregular  snow  crest  running  east  and  west, 
but  its  northern  flank  broken  into  many  flat-topped  masses.     Lastly  are  seen  the 

123 


124 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


broad  gray  steppes  of  the  northern  half  of  Ferj^ana,  patched  with  a  mnltitude  of 
green  oases,  and  sharply  bounded  on  the  south  bj-  the  high,  grassy  slopes  of  the 
Alai  range  foothills.     (See  figs.  8i  and  82.) 

It  had  been  planned  that  the  reconnaissance  trip  should  extend  to  Andizhan,  at 
the  end  of  the  Trans-Caspian  railroad.  On  June  23  we  had  left  Tashkent,  and  on 
the  24th  our  car  was  running  along  the  low  region  just  south  of  the  Syr  Darj-a. 
There  the  oases  were  more  frequent  than  farther  west,  and  the  landscape  corre- 
spondingly cheerfid.  We  crossed  long  stretches  of  barren,  gravelly  steppes,  but 
were  rarely  out  of  sight  of  picturesque  villages  and  patches  of  cultivated  land, 
with  their  hedges  of  tall,  shaft-like  poplars  agaiiLst  the  sky. 

It  was  decided  to  follow  the  ancient  Taldic  route  as  far  as  the  core  of  the 
Alai  range.    We  drove  from  Andizhan  to  Osh,  the  great  starting  point  for  caravans. 


Fig.  82. — Map  of  the  Pamir,  taken  from  Sven  Hedin's  Map. 

There  it  was  decided  to  go  to  Lake  Kara  Kul,  on  the  Pamir.  Two  or  three  flays 
were  taken  in  making  the  preparations  necessary  for  so  extended  an  expedition, 
and  it  was  the  last  day  of  Juue  when  our  caravan  left  Osh  for  the  mountains.  We 
were  to  follow  the  old  route  up  to  the  Taldic  pass  across  the  Alai  Valley,  up  a  stream 
to  Kizil-Art  pass,  and  thence  to  Kara  Kul. 

From  the  lower  plains  of  Fergana  (1,200  feet)  to  the  foothills  of  the  Alai 
range  (4,000  feet),  there  is  a  gradual  ascent  and  nonnal  progressive  increase  of 
natural  vegetation.  Even  at  Osh  we  had  begun  to  miss  the  striking  desert  conditions 
of  the  regions  below,  and  at  Gulcha  the  hills  were  covered  with  rich  green  grass, 
small  streams  rising  among  them.  From  Takka  pass  there  was  a  splendid  view 
over  a  broad  gulf  of  these  green  hills  and  \-alleys,  ending  in  the  snow-clad  peaks 
of  the  Alai,  40  miles  to  the  south.  There  were  kibitkas  (Kirghiz  felt  tents)  here 
and  there  on  the  slopes,  and  by  them  herds  and  flocks.     The  Kirghiz  winter  in 


PHYSIOGRAPHIC    OBSERVATIONS. 


125 


these  lowland  valleys  and  in  the  sprinj^  the\-  sow  great  fields  of  grain,  leaving  men 
to  tend  and  irrigate  them,  and  on  their  return  from  the  summer  pastures  reap  their 
crops.  We  camped  over  night  at  Ciulcha,  July  1-2.  It  rained  heavih'  during  the 
night,  and  the  temperature  stood  at  54.5°  F.  at  6  a.  ni. 

Leaving  Gulcha,  we  fell  in  with  a  long  Kirghiz  caravan,  on  its  way  to  the  Alai 
Valley.     It  was  very  gay,  yet  full  of  pomp  and  dignity.     Each  group  was  headed 


Fig.  83. — A  Kirghiz  Caravan  on  its  way  lo  the  Alai  Valley. 

by  the  men  driving  their  herds  of  cattle,  horses,  and  camels,  and  their  flocks  of  goats 
and  sheep.  Behind  them  came  the  women,  all  attired  in  their  best,  some  in  cloth 
of  gold  or  silver,  and  ornamented  with  jewels.  They  rode  in  single  file,  each  on  a 
stallion  draped  with  brilliant  embroideries,  and  each  leading  two  or  more  camels 
laden  with  the  household  goods,  and  draped  over  all  with  carpets  of  rich  design. 
Such  is  the  wealth  drawn  from  the  fertile  pastures  of  Fergana.     (See  fig.  83.) 

All  day  we  contiiuied  winding  up  the  \alley,  frequently  fording  the  stream. 
There  were  at  first  no  trees  on  the  hillsides,  but  frequent  groups  of  picturesque 
mountain  willows  and  crooked  poplars  along  the  edge  of  the  stream  (fig.  84).  No 
wild  animals  were  seen ;  only  a  few  vultures 
and  flocks  of  pigeons  vers-  like  our  do- 
mesticated variety.  Toward  the  end  of  the 
da)-  we  entered  a  granite  gorge  and  rode  a 
long  time  above  the  roaring  torrent.  Occa- 
sional glimpses  of  the  slopes  high  up  above 
the  canyon  showed  thin  forests  of  bushv 
cedar  trees. 

Our  camp  tiie  night  of  July  2-3  was 
at  Suph  Kurgan,  where  the  trail  forks,  one 
branch  leading  over  the  Taldic  pass,  the  other 
over  the  Terek  Da  van.  During  the  sunnuer 
there  is  but  little  snow  on  the  Taldic,  and  that  route  is  used  when  the  Terek  is 
impassable,  owing  to  high  flood.  In  winter  the  streams  are  shrunken  and  the  Terek 
is  the  best  route.      That  night  it  rained  heavily.      Temperature  at  6  a.  m.,  40°  F. 

The  ne.\t  day  we  were   still   winding   up   the  valley,   sometimes   along  the 
stream-bed,  sometimes  along  the  top  of  the  canyon.     A  new  variety  of  foreground 


Fig.  84. — A  Poplar  Tree  in  the  Taldic  Valley. 


126 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


was  ffiven  at  c\-cr\-  turn,  and  the  ever-changing  clouds  gave  new  and  more 
charming  effects  on  tlie  high  peaks  iu  the  distance.  We  were  in  the  ;\lai  range, 
for  glistening  snow  peaks  appeared  above  the  green  hills  on  botli  sides,  wliilc  in 
front  there  rose  a  chain  of  gigantic  snow-clad  p\ramids,  partially  hidden  1j\'  the 
clouds  that  streamed  from  their  summits. 

From  Suph  Kurgan  to  the  Taldic  pass  the  mountain  sides  are  dotted  witli 
scrubby  cedar  trees,  which  grow  smaller,  more  crooked,  and  more  picturesque  as  the 
altitude  increases,  and  below  the  pass  exist  as  mere  stunted  spreading  bushes 
hugging  the  slopes.  When  about  15  versts  below  Ak-Busa-Ga  we  heard,  for  the 
first  time,  the  shrill  whistle  of  the  marmot,  and  from  there  to  the  border  of  the 
Pamir  desert  this  was  the  characteristic  wild  animal.  At  a  little  after  3  in  the 
afternoon  our  caravan  came  to  where  the  valley  opened  out  on  the  broad,  grass- 


Fig.  83. — Looking  up  the  Taldic  Valley  at  the  Entrance  to  the  Broad  Plain  of  Ak-Busa-Ga. 

covered  flood-plain  of  .\k-Busa-Ga  (figs.  85  and  86).  There  we  camped  over  night. 
At  5.30  p.  m.  the  temperature  was  40°  F.  At  9.30  p.  m.  it  had  fallen  to  32°  F., 
and  it  was  snowing  heavily. 

The  next  day,  July  4,  the  caravan  made  an  early  start,  for  we  were  to  cross  the 
Taldic.  It  was  a  clear,  frosty  morning,  with  the  white  snow  peaks  above  glistening 
in  the  sun.  In  about  a  verst  the  broad  valle)'  changed  to  a  torrent  canyon.  Beyond 
it  opened  out  again  in  grassy  slopes,  where  many  Kirghiz  families  had  pitched  their 
kibitkas  (fig.  88).  Flocks  of  sheep  and  goats,  herds  of  cattle  and  horses,  and  many 
wandering  groups  of  two-humped  camels  were  grazing  b)-  the  trail.  .Above  were 
high  peaks,  some  of  craggy  rocks  and  others  more  heavily  covered  with  great 
sliding  banks  of  snow.  Delicate,  steaming  clouds  trailed  from  the  summits,  and 
others  appeared  over  the  ridges,  rolling  up  from  the  opposite  side.  One  cloud 
swept  down  the  valley  for  a  moment,  its  refreshing  moisture  blowing  against  our 
faces.     Ahead  of  us  we  could  see  where  the  trail  makes  its  many  zigzags  before 


PHYSIOGRAPHIC   OBSERVATIONS. 


127 


reacliiny  the  pass,  and  our  horses  were  soon  strugj^lino-  tip  the  steep  slope  past 
countless  skeletons  of  unlucky  pack  animals  that  had  fallen  in  the  effort.  The 
clouds  gathered  .so  rapidly  that  the  pass,  the  elevation  of  which  is  11,600  feet,  was 
in  a  sea  of  mist  when  the  summit  was  reached.     On  the  southern  side  the  snow 


Fig.  86.— Ak-Busa-Ga. 

was  much  deeper  and  the  drifts  so  heavy  that  our  guides  had  difficulty  in  remaining 
on  the  trail,  but  a  short  descent  led  us  below  the  snow-line  and  down  to  Sari  Tash, 
on  the  edge  of  the  Great  Alai  Valley.  There  we  halted  for  a  day  to  rest  the  horses. 
The  Alai  Valle}',  as  it  is  first  seen  (fig.  87),  looking  across  from  the  foothills  at 
Sari  Tash,  is  one  vast  expanse  of  smooth  green  lawn,  abruptly  bordered  on  the  south 
by  a  magnificent  wall  of  snow-clad  inouutaius,  and  extending  east  and  west  nearly 
as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach.     It  is  75  miles  long,  averages  15  miles  in  width,  lies 


Fig.  87. — Looking  across  the  Alai  Valley  to  the  Trans-Alai  Mountains.     Taken  from  a  peak  north  ol  Sari  Tash. 

10,000  feet  above  the  sea,  and  is  walled  in  by  the  Alai  anil  Trans-Alai  mountains, 
two  of  the  lofty  ranges  of  the  world.  For  nine  moutlis  of  the  year  snow  several 
feet  thick  lies  upon  it.  Then  it  is  void  of  humau  habitation,  and  the  wolves  hunt 
undisputedly  the  wild  sheep  and  ibex.  By  the  beginning  of  July  this  snow  has 
melted.  Like  magic  the  grass  turns  green,  the  poppies  and  buttercups  bloom,  the 
marmots  come  out  to  sun  themselves  and  call  in  shrill  notes  to  one  another,  and. 


128 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


the  Kirjjhiz,  with  their  vast  herds  and  flocks,  are  pouring  over  the  passes  on  to  the 
rich  pasture.  There  are  no  trees,  no  bushes,  nothing  but  a  world  of  grass  sprinkled 
with  beautiful  wild  flowers. 

It  is  said  that  Mount  Kaufnianu  is  rarely  free  from  its  canopy  of  clouds,  but  we 
had  a  fine  view  of  it  during  our  first  stay  in  the  valle}-.  From  over  the  spur  at 
Sari  Ta.sh  it  came  in  sight,  a  long  ma.ss  of  ridges  and  amphitheaters  rising  in 
groups  one  above  the  other,  and  above  them  great  snow-fields  mantling  the  cliffs. 
Here  and  there  we  could  see  a  glacier  starting  in  a  group  of  cirques  below  the  top, 
and  pouring  forth  its  snake-like  river  of  ice  to  the  very  edge  of  the  plain.  It  was 
a  grand  siglit,  this  gigantic  complex  of  ridges  and  snow-banks  rising  to  the  top 


Fig.  88.— The  Kirghiz  in  the  Alai  Valley. 

peak  of  all,  an  ice-capped  pyramid  so  high  that  it  creates  the  clouds  and  directs  the 
storms.  For  a  long  time  we  saw  the  clouds,  blowing  up  from  the  northwest,  split 
on  Mount  Kaufmann,  part  turning  back  to  the  northeast,  collecting  on  the  Alai 
range  behind  us,  while  the  rest  formed  a  horizontal  stratum  floating  just  below  the 
high  peaks  of  Mount  Kaufmann  and  disappearing  southwest  over  the  Pamir. 

By  the  end  of  the  afternoon  it  began  to  thunder  and  hail  on  our  side  of 
the  valley,  but  during  the  whole  storm  the  sun  shone  brightl)-  on  the  Trans-Alai 
Mountains,  and  we  could  see  them  sparkling  through  the  hail.  Temperature  at 
7  p.  m.,  39°  F. 

On  Jid}-  6  our  caravan  crossed  to  Bor  Daba,  on  the  south  side  of  the  Alai 
Valley,  and  camped  there  over  night.  When  we  arose  at  5  a.  m.  on  the  7th  it  was 
35°  F.,  and  the  stream  was  sheeted  over  with  ice.    The  sky  was  clear,  the  mountains 


PHYSIOGRAPHIC   OBSERVATIONS.  1 29 

free  from  clouds,  and  tlie  rose  tints  of  sunrise  were  fading  away  from  the  snow- 
fields  of  Mount  Kaufmanu.  There  was  a  long  journey  before  us  over  Kizil-Art 
pass  to  Kara  Kid. 

The  trail  follows  along  the  edge  of  the  Kizil-Art  darya  to  the  pass.  The  snow 
had  melted  to  its  perpetual  line,  leaving  a  few  masses  of  white  forking  down  into 
the  ravines.  The  landscape  was  everj'where  characterized  by  an  extraordinary- 
richness  of  coloring,  especially  the  deep  red  of  bare  g\psum  rocks  forking  into  the 
soft  green  of  grassy  slopes,  and  above  them  a  deep-blue  sk}-,  broken  here  and  there 
by  silver)'  clouds.  Always  cutting  our  view  in  twain  was  the  deep  valley  of  the 
ever-roaring  torrent  along  which  we  rode.  In  places  this  valley  narrowed  to  a 
canyon,  and  the  trail  led  us  above,  where  we  looked  down  into  depths  from  which 
the  sound  of  roaring  water  could  barely  reach  us. 

When  about  12  versts  from  Bor  Daba  we  sighted  a  flock  of  takkan  (ibex) 
grazing  on  the  thin  grass  of  a  side  fan,  and  a  little  farther  along,  on  a  distant  ridge, 
five  Marco  Polo  sheep  {Ovis  poll),  standing  one  behind  the  other,  and  clearly  out- 
lined against  the  sky.  Farther  up  the  valley  the  green  slopes  gave  way  to  barren 
red,  streaked  here  and  there  with  drifts  of  snow.  On  all  sides  rose  massive  spurs 
of  deep  red,  sharply  carved  into  parallel  ravines  running  straight  down  the  slopes 
and  crested  with  dazzling  snow  outlined  above  against  a  sky  of  turquoise  blue. 

At  about  II  a.  m.  the  caravan  reached  Kizil-Art  pass,  13,721  feet  above  sea 
level  (by  recent  Russian  leveling),  where  we  stopped  to  rest  the  animals.  They  had 
carried  us  20  versts  o\-er  a  rough  trail  and  up  3,000  feet  in  four  hours,  and  e\-en  the 
strongest  were  panting  hard  from  the  rarefied  atmosphere.  Looking  back  we  coidd 
see  the  deep  valley  out  of  which  we  had  climbed.  Its  dark  bottom  seemed  to 
reach  a  depth  even  greater  in  perspective  than  the  height  of  the  mountain  above  us. 

Here  I  left  the  caravan,  and  while  it  went  on  down  to  Kara  Kul  I  climbed  on 
foot  the  first  peak  to  the  west.  This  was  an  excellent  position  from  which  to 
compare  the  forms  established  by  erosion  on  the  north  and  south  sides  of  the 
Trans-Alai  crest.  On  the  north  the  slopes  began  by  sinking  into  broad  amj^hi- 
theaters,  and  beyond  fell  rapidly  into  deep  valleys  and  dark  ravines,  separated  by 
high,  irregular  spurs  of  soft  gypsum  and  sandstone.  On  the  south,  the  Pamir  side, 
there  seemed  to  be  no  great  descent ;  long,  straight  spurs  extended  transversely  from 
the  main  mass,  and  between  them  lay  flat  plains  of  gravel,  starting  in  the  cirques 
just  below  the  crest  and  inclining  gently  toward  the  south. 

We  had  expected  to  find  the  region  about  Kara  Kul  like  the  Alai  \'alle\-,  green 
with  grass ;  in  reality  the  two  could  hardly  be  more  diflferent.  From  the  high 
slopes  of  the  pass,  wet  from  melting  snow,  the  trail  led  to  a  Avy  steppe  of  gravel 
extending  nearly  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach.  In  a  few  \-ersts  the  stream  wander- 
ing on  its  surface  dwindled  away,  leaving  a  drj'  bed.  One  could  perceive  nothing 
living.  Here  and  there  projected  piles  of  bowlders  hollowed,  pitted,  and  polished 
by  the  sand.  All  along  the  trail  were  the  bleached  bones  and  skeletons  of  pack 
animals  that  had  probably  died  under  loads. 

After  a  seemingly  interminable  ride  along  stony  steppes,  pa.st  barren  talus- 
shrouded  mountains,  and  over  large,  incgular  piles  of  moraine,  the  desert  basin  of 


I30 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


Great  Kara  Kill  came  in  view  (fig.  89),  and  we  reached  a  point  where  the  trail 
begins  a  rapid  descent  into  the  basin  and  a  corner  of  tlie  lake  appeared.  Far 
and  wide  stretched  the  same  monotonons,  dazzliny;  gray,  unbroken  by  anv  sign 
of  life  or  vegetation.  A  little  way  to  the  right  there  rose  a  talus-shrouded  mass 
of  rock,  and  in  front  were  crooked,  hollowed  bowlders  with  sharp  shadows,  while 
in  the  distance,  far  below,  was  the  black-blue  sheet  of  Kara  Kul  reposing  calm 
and  silent,  with  its  deep  color  contrasting  strangely  with  the  monotonous,  dazzling 
gray  of  the  gulf-like  desert  in  which  it  rested.  All  around  this  lifeless  waste 
there  rose  a  continuous  chain  of  snow-clad  mountains  with  their  sharp  peaks  and 
ridges  outlined  against  a  clear  blue  sky.  It  seemed  like  a  lake  that  had  lived  and 
died  long  ago,  and  now  reposed  in  its  desert  gra\-e  under  heaven's  ethereal  blue  and 


Fig.  89. — Looking  down  the  Kara  Kul  from  Uy  Bulak  pass. 

among  the  guardian  white  mountains,  ever  watching,  ever  keeping  the  unbroken 
silence  of  space. 

From  time  immemorial  this  barren  desert  has  been  called  The  Roof  of  The 
World,  and  the  name  seemed  appropriate,  for  the  mountain  borders  shed  their  waters 
to  lands  of  diverse  and  powerful  nations.  There,  on  that  eastern  crest,  was  the 
boundary-  of  China,  to  the  south  were  the  British,  to  the  west  the  Afghans,  and 
here  it  was  Russian  laud. 

The  caravan  had  camped  on  the  northeastern  shore  of  Kara  Kul.  There  we 
remained  over  the  ne.xt  da)-  to  stud)-  the  desert. 

Imagine  a  ground  of  split  and  polished  stones  which  stretches  awa)'  in  a  seem- 
ingly endless  waste,  the  little  relief  and  variety  of  projecting  rock  masses  near  by 
fading  beyond  to  drear)-  flatness.  That  is  the  Kara  Kul  desert.  There  are  no 
trees,  no  bushes — in  fact,  no  familiar  forms  by  which  one's  puzzled  e)'e  can  scale  the 


PHYSIOGRAPHIC   OBSERVATIONS. 


131 


distance.  In  tlie  distance,  a  silver\'  sheet  of  water  reflects  and  dances  on  the  plain. 
For  a  moment  there  seem  to  be  men  and  animals  moving  on  the  shore,  but  then 
the  lake  slides  away  into  space,  the  men  and  animals  disappear,  and  there,  instead, 
is  the  mocking  plain. 

A  far-off  dust  colunni  appears  on  the  horizon.  At  first  it  seems  motionless, 
but  soon  there  is  a  visible  movement  as  it  approaches,  growing  denser  and  taller, 
and  turning,  it  rapidly  crosses  the  steppe  with  an  irregular  motion.  It  may  fade 
away  in  the  distance ;  it  may  disappear  suddenly  in  some  unexpected  place.  These 
dust  storms  tell  a  storj'.  During  the  warm  hours  of  the  day  there  is  nearly  always 
one,   often  there  are  two  or  more   in    sight.     The   desert   surface   here  shows  a 


Fig.  90. — Deflated  bowlder  of  granite. 


Fig.  91. — Deflated   bowlder   o(    granite,  hollowed  side 
facing  east.  Taken  at  10.30  a.  m. 


Fig.  92. — A  talus-shrouded  mass  of  crystalline  limestone. 


Fig.  93.  -  A  glacial  bowlder  of  crystalline  limestone  cracking 
from  the  changes  of  temperature. 


remarkable  lack  of  loose,  fine  material.  But  tlie  inclosing  mountains  are  largely 
made  up  of  rotten  g^-psum  and  limestone  with  earthy  surface,  from  which  great 
quantities  of  fine  stuff  are  brought  down  during  cloudbursts  and  left  on  the  fans, 
always  to  be  carried  away  by  the  winds  and  deposited  elsewhere ;  probably,  according 
to  Richthofen's  theor}-,  as  loess  in  some  neighboring  zone  of  vegetation. 

Kara  Kul  is  a  lake  of  bitter  salt  water.  Its  sloping  shores  are  white  with  salt 
accunuilated  into  low  ridges  where  the  brine  from  each  wave-wetting  has  dried  out 
after  the  recession.  Behind  some  of  these  natural  dams  there  are  lagoons  of  brine 
collected  from  the  overflow  of  larger  waves,  and  thus,  in  places,  extending  the  salt 
belt  100  feet  or  more  from  the  shore.     I  could  find  no  shells  and  saw  no  fishes. 


132  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

There  was  much  dead  tape-like  grass  on  the  shore,  but  as  there  seemed  to  be  none 
fresh,  it  nia}-  ha\-e  been  washed  out  of  the  gray  clays  deposited  at  a  higher  level, 
which  are  well  matted  with  a  similar  grass  (p.  139). 

Most  of  the  streams  rising  in  the  melting  snows  of  the  inclosing  mountains 
disappear  in  broad,  stony  fans  extending  from  their  base.  The  whole  zone  border- 
ing the  mountains  is  thus  characterized  by  a  topography  of  interlocking  fans,  while 
the  foot-hill  rock-masses  are  largely  buried 
in  their  own  talus.  For  this  reason  the  desert 
surface  consists,  for  the  most  part,  of  bare 
steppes  of  small  angular  or  sand-polished 
stones.  In  places  there  are  flying  sands, 
and  certain  areas  bordering  the  mountains 
are  covered  witli  moraine  with  a  surface 
somewhat  modified  by  the  deflation  which 
naturally  occurs  in  this  atmosphere  of  13,000 
feet  altitude,   where   there  is  so  marked  a     _    ..^     „  ,       ,      ,,     ,,      ^, 

.  rig.  V4. — Common  type  ot  weathered  bowlders.    I  he 

fluctuation  of  temperature  from  night  to  day  light  fragments  strewn  about  it  are  parts  of  the 

and  between  sliade  and  sun.    While  we  were  '°"""  """"■ 

there  it  went  below  freezing  at  night,  but  during  llie  day  our  faces  were  blistered 
by  the  dazzling  simlight.  Figures  90  to  94  give  an  idea  of  the  striking  forms  of 
desert  weathering. 

Except  for  a  few  deeply-rooted  flowers  in  bloom  and  rare  clumps  of  grass  on  the 
dry  beds  of  streams,  the  Kara  Kul  desert  is  \-oid  of  vegetation.  No  man  li\'es  on 
it,  and  those  who  cross  it  with  their  caravans  have  difficulty  in  finding  feed  for  their 
animals.  The  only  wild  animals  .seen  on  the  plains  were  a  rabbit,  a  few  ducks  and 
gulls  about  the  lake,  and  some  vultures  devouring  the  carcass  of  a  camel  on  the  trail. 

On  the  slopes  of  the  bordering  mountains  there  was  more  water  and  more  life. 
A  few  mannots  burrowed  where  the  grass  was  thickest,  but  the  characteristic  beast 
was  the  Marco  Polo  sheep  {Ovis poli)^  the  largest  of  all  wild  sheep.  Of  them  we 
saw  two  or  three  flocks,  one  of  which  numbered  over  fift}'  sheep. 

After  spending  four  days  on  the  Pamir  we  recrossed  Kizil-Art  pass,  and  returning 
by  our  outward  route,  reached  Osh  again  on  July  17. 

DETAILED    OBSERVATIONS. 

From  the  lowland  plains  of  Fergana  we  had  studied  the  Alai  IMountains  through 
our  field-glasses,  and  recognized  in  them  glacial  fonns  of  erosion,  such  as  amphi- 
theaters inclosed  by  sharp  crescent  ridges,  and  above  them  groups  of  cirques,  and 
we  thought  we  saw  glaciers  beneath  the  higher  masses.  Unfortunatel}',  the  old 
caravan  route  led  us  over  a  lower  part  of  the  range  and  did  not  bring  us  in  contact 
with  any  records  of  glacial  action  until  we  reached  the  Alai  \'alle}-.  It  can,  how- 
ever, be  stated  that  the  famous  Zerafshan  glacier  lies  in  a  high  longitudinal  valley 
of  the  western  extension  of  the  Alai  range,  and  that  there  are  several  other  glaciers 
in  the  high  mountains  around  it.  Nowhere  did  we  find  any  indication  of  a  former 
regional  ice-cap.  Glacial  remains  with  which  we  actually  came  in  contact  were 
confined  to  the  Alai  Valley,  Trans-Alai  Mountains,  and  Pamir. 


PHYSIOGRAPHIC   OBSERVATIONS.  1 33 


IN   THE   ALAI   VALLEY. 


With  our  field-glasses  we  had  seen  from  Sari  Tash  the  great  glacier  on  Mount 
Kaufmaun  and  large  grass-covered  moraines  extending  nearly  across  the  jjlain 
from  all  the  principal  valleys  along  the  Trans-Alai  range. 

The  morainal  masses  extending  transverse!}-  across  the  Alai  \'alley  were  each 
made  up  of  at  least  two  moraines  belonging  to  two  distinct,  long-separated 
epochs.  The  old  moraines  are  broad,  smoothed-off  lobes  made  up  of  large  and  small 
semiangular  bowlders,  usually  of  rather  hard  red  limestone  and  mixed  with  finer 
till.  Their  surfaces  sloped  gently  to  the  plain  on  each  side,  and  no  undrained 
depressions  were  seen.  The  whole  was  coated  with  loess  usually  2  to  3  feet  in 
thickness.  The  identification  of  this  loess  was  at  first  a  little  doubtful,  owing  to 
the  presence  of  thousands  of  mannot  holes,  most  of  which  reached  into  the  till  below, 
thus  bringing  a  quantity-  of  small  stones  to  the  surface,  but  it  was  well  established 
in  exposures  on  stream  cuts.     The  streams  now  flowing  from  the  side  valle\-s  have 


Fig.  95. — A  Ketlle-hole  Lake  on  the  Moraine  extending  from  the  Kurumdi    Mass  transversely  into  the  Alai  V  aliey. 
The  Trans-AIai  Mountains  rising  into  the  clouds. 

in  some  cases  cut  broad,  flat-bottomed  channels  in  these  moraines  and  in  other  cases 
are  deflected  to  one  side,  cutting  a  bluff. 

Lying  on  the  middle  of  these  old  smoothed-off"  moraines  or  in  the  channels 
there  are  long,  narrower  moraines  of  the  second  epoch.  In  topography  the\'  are 
made  up  of  irreg^ilar  chains  of  steep  mounds  with  many  large  blocks  on  the  surface 
and  frequent  kettle-hole  lakes  (fig.  95),  and  near  their  origins  are  cut  by  sharp 
V-shaped  torrent  valleys.  They  seem  to  be  made  up  of  essentially  the  same  material 
as  the  old  moraines.  They  also  have  loess  on  their  surfaces  and  are  grown  over 
with  grass,  but,  owing  to  their  exceedingly  irregular  topography,  their  loess  coat 
varies  in  thickness  e\-en  more  than  that  on  the  old  moraines.  It  did  not  seem 
practicable  with  the  little  time  I  had  to  attempt  to  get  an  a\'erage  measurement, 
but  there  appeared  to  be  much  more  loess  on  the  old  moraines  than  on  the  new  ones. 
Of  course  this  might  be  partly  due  to  the  more  exposed  position  of  the  latter. 
There  seemed  to  be  a  third  series  of  moraines  extending  a  short  distance  from  the 
valley  mouths,  and  in  cases  overriding  those  of  the  second  epoch  (fig.  96).  Professor 
Pumpelly  considered  them  to  be  of  a  third  epoch. 


134 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


Many  of  the  cross-valleys  flowing  into  the  Alai  Valley  from  the  Trans-Alai 
range  had  the  form  of  rounded  tronghs  cut  down  in  the  middle  by  narrower  troughs, 
as  in  fig.  97.  The  erosion  forms  obser\^ed  low  down  on  the  flank  of  the  Trans- 
Alai,  bordering  the  Alai  Valley,  are  cut  mainlj-  in  rather  soft  rocks,  especially  in 
partially  decomposed  gypsiferous  series  with  occasional  harder  beds  of  red  sandstone. 


i°<»S.OV 


Kor^^o-D- 


<p9.<.Qj°0{?^, 


over-ridi'ng    moraine  • 


'V'^,?WS<fe??P^5^»x5*old    moraine  v?"'C?-'';^"OV'<J^,'ii,7„iOw-?P^§B«=n 
Fig.  %. — Section  of  Alai  Valley  Transverse  Moraine. 


Along  the  southern  border  of  the  Alai  Valle}-  there  project  rather  flat-topped, 
narrow  spurs  between  the  valleys  coming  down  from  the  Trans-Alai.  These  spurs 
do  not  descend  to  the  plains  on  a  gradual  slope,  but  are  rather  abruptly  cut  off  by 
one  or  more  steep  slopes  which  may  be  called  terminal  facets.  These  facets 
appeared  to  be  aligned  and  to  fall  into  parallel  planes  or  escarpments  truncating  the 
base  of  the  range.  For  convenience  let  us  call  the  plains  of  this  truncation  the 
Trans-Alai  escarpments.  The  apparent  level  of  the  old  broad-trough  bottoms  lies 
high  up  on  the  escarpment.  The  bottoms  of  the  new  lower  troughs  lie  some  50 
feet  above  the  plains  where  they  cut  the  escarpment  and  emerge  into  the  Alai  Valley. 
In  other  words,  the  later  troughs  cut  the  escarpment. 

Professor  Pumpelh-  discovered  that  on  the  slope  of  the  western  side  of  the 
Kizil-Art  \'alle\-,  where  it  leaves  the  mountains  and  empties  into  the  Alai  \'alley, 
there  are  high  terraces  of  the  older  moraines,  which  bend  around  to  the  west  at  the 


Fig.  97. — Ideal  section  o(  a  "  twice-troughed  "  valley. 

mouth  of  the  valley  and  form  a  portion  of  the  spurs  mentioned  above.  The  new 
moraine  of  the  Kizil-Art  Valley  lies  as  a  long  island  directly  in  the  middle  of  the 
flood  plain  and  splitting  the  stream  (fig.  98).  It  is  partially  buried  by  the  stream 
gravels,  but  its  topography  is  notabh-  fresh,  many  little  kettle-hole  lakes  occurring 
on  it  nearly  to  the  level  of  the  flood  plain. 


PHYSIOGRAPHIC   OBSERVATIONS.  1 35 

It  is  thus  seen  that,  whatever  these  Alai  \'alley  escarpments  are,  and  howe\-er 
they  were  produced,  their  fomiation  took  place  during  the  time  of  the  deposition  of 
the  new  moraines  obser\-ed.  It  is  also  clear,  since  they  support  the  bottoms  of  the 
old  broad-trough  valle\s  and  are  cut  by  the  new,  narrower  troughs,  that  their  forma- 
tion must  have  taken  place  between  the  establishment  of  the  old  and  of  the  new 
trough  floors.  This  places  the  large,  old,  worn-down  moraines  as  contemporary 
with  the  former  broad  troughs  and  the  new,  fresh,  narrower  moraines  as  contempo- 
rar)'  with  the  narrower  or  present  trough  bottoms. 

The  Trans-Alai  range  is  largely  car\-ed  into  cirques.  We  had  an  excellent 
opportunity  to  stud)'  those  low  down  on  the  northern  flank  of  the  range.  They 
may  be  divided  into  two  classes — the  very  large  and  the  small  cirques.  These 
cirques  empty  either  in  groups  into  a  trunk  trough  or  open  directly  into  the  Alai 
\'alley.  The  large  cirques  emptying  directly  into  the  Alai  \'alley  come  down  on  a 
nonnal  slope  to  the  plain,  breaking  through  the  escarpments  in  which  their  sections 
form  double  cur\'es  similar  to  the  sections  of  the  twice-troughed  vallejs.  In  and 
in  front  of  them  lie  piles  of  moraine  with  fresh  topography. 


Fig.  98. — Section  across  Kizil-Art  Valley  at  Bor  Daba,  looking  north. 

The  bottoms  of  small  cirques  opening  direct!}-  into  the  Alai  Valley  lie  high  up 
on  the  escarpments,  and  the  moraines  contained  by  them  are  worn  down  to  smooth, 
low  masses.  There  is  no  double  cur\-e  in  their  cross-section.  The  whole  depres- 
sion with  its  moraine  is,  in  cases,  much  dissected. 

The  absence  of  the  fresh  moraines  in  the  small  cirques,  and  the  absence  of  the 
secondary-  depression  through  the  escarpments,  is  good  evidence  that  these  small 
cirques  were  carved  largely  during  the  epoch  or  epochs  predating  the  escarpments. 
From  this  we  may  reason  that  onl\-  the  large  cirques  of  those  in  question  were,  to 
any  great  extent,  glacially  active  during  the  epoch  following  the  formation  of  the 
escarpment.  It  seems  probable  that  this  difference  was  because  their  upper  slopes 
begin  several  thousand  feet  abo\'e  those  of  the  small  cirques,  and  thus  accumulated 
ice  when  the  line  of  peipetual  snow  was  above  the  smaller  ones.  A  careful  study 
of  cirques  at  the  critical  levels  might  determine  the  perpetual  snow-line  of  the  later 
glacial  epoch. 

Of  existing  glaciers  we  had,  from  a  short  distance,  a  good  view  of  three  in  the 
respective  valleys  back  of  the  long  moraines  described.  Each  appeared  to  lie  on  a 
moraine.     Directly  in  front  of  the  ice  this  moraine  floor  was  cut  b)-  a  small  rounded 


136 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


trou.s^li,  into  which  the  foremost  part  of  the  glacier  projected.  A  few  hundred  feet 
in  front  there  lay  fresh  piles  of  till  dropped  on  the  moraine  floor  and  in  the  small 
trough.  These  last  moraines  were  in  no  case  nearer  than  several  hundred  feet  to 
to  the  glacier,  which  was  in  all  cases  tenninated  by  glistening  walls  of  ice.  All  the 
ice  flows  were  disproportionately  narrow  in  comparison  to  the  width  of  the  troughs 
containing  them.  We  also  .saw,  from  a  greater  di.stance,  nian\-  smaller  glaciers  on 
the  Trans-Alai.      None  of  those  examined  reached  lower  than  about  13,000  feet. 

The  largest  glacier  was  that  coming  down  from  the  middle  of  the  Mount 
Kaufmaim  mass.  The  glacier  I  did  not  visit,  but  had  a  splendid  view  of  it  from  high 
up  on  a  moraine  some  2  miles  in  front.  It  draws  its  ice  from  a  group  of  several  large 
amphitheaters,  some  of  which  collect  ice  sliding  over  their  walls  from  smaller 
cirques  above.  Just  cast  of  this  there  is  another  glacier  nearly  as  large  as  this  and 
which  evidentU-  formed,  at  one  time,  a  branch  of  the  great  one.     Both  glaciers  have 


Kizyl-art 
(13.721)  I 


Terraces  of  outer  trough  bottom  -  - 
"  "  Inner  trough  bottom  ~  - 


VALLEY 


Klzyt  Su  Daria 
■    (10.100) 


Alluvium        Beds  of  streams 


These  sections  are  Ideah'zed 


Scale  :  1  inch  horizoutal  =  4  vensts  ;  i  inch  vertical  —  1,000  feet. 
Fig.  99. — Profile  to  show  moraines  and  terraces  ot  the  Kizil-Art  Valley. 

now  retreated  back  of  the  point  of  former  union.  Perhaps  the  two  most  striking 
features  of  the  glacier  were,  first,  the  lack  of  \'isible  debris  on  its  clean  white  ice 
flow ;  second  the  remarkabl)-  free  character  of  its  sparkling  ice  front,  the  entire 
depth  and  breadth  of  which  could  be  seen  by  an  observer  a  mile  or  two  in  front  and 
several  hundred  feet  below. 


IN   THE    KIZIL-ART   VALLEY. 


The  obser\'ations  in  this  valley  are  best  stated  in  the  order  beginning  with  the 
source  of  the  stream.  The  vallc)-  is,  for  the  most  part,  car^-ed  in  highly  tilted,  soft, 
partially  decomposed  red  gjpsiferous  rocks,  alternating  with  mediinn  hard  red  sand- 
stones and  blue-gray  slates.     No  granite  or  other  hard  rocks  were  seen  except  in 


r- 

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PHYSIOGRAPHIC    OBSERVATIONS.  I37 

the  gravels  of  branch  streams.  Kizil-Art  pass  lies  on  the  middle  of  a  sagging  ridge 
between  two  diametrically  opposite  back-to-back  cirques.  The  northern  one  heads 
the  Kizil-Art  Valley,  which  a.ssumes,  below  the  cirque,  the  twice-troughed-valley 
form  seen  in  the  Alai  \'alley  triinitaries.  The  bench  or  change  of  cnrve  in  this 
valley  is  bnt  imperfect!)-  preserved,  but  is  occasionalh'  well  defined  and  can  be  traced 
to  within  a  few  versts  of  Bor  Daba  (fig.  99). 

The  stream  rising  in  the  heading  cirque  of  this  valley  has  cut  back  a  gully  to 
within  50  feet  of  the  crest  at  Kizil-Art  pass.  This  gully  is  about  10  feet  deep  and 
10  feet  wide  at  the  pass,  gradually  widens  downstream,  and  increases  in  depth  for 
about  10  versts,  where  the  bottom  of  the  inner  trough  is  abotit  100  feet  above  the 
stream.  Here  the  pitch  of  the  stream  suddenh'  decreases,  as  a  few  versts  farther 
down  the  bottom  of  the  inner  trough  sinks  under  the  flood  plain. 

MORAINES. 

A  few  versts  below  Kizil-Art  pass  we  begin  to  find  jjortious  of  moraine  left  on 
the  inner  trough  bottom  to  one  side  or  the  other  and  above  the  stream.  Portions 
of  this  moraine  occur  at  rare  interv^als  all  the  way  down  to  Bor  Daba,  where  the 
Kizil-Art  darj'a  emerges  into  the  Alai  Valley.  Here  begins  a  moraine  island  extend- 
ing over  10  miles  transversely  into  the  Alai  \'alley.  It  is  not  surrounded  by  water 
except  in  flood  time,  when  a  distributary  of  the  Kizil-Art  darya  crosses  the  flood  plain 
to  the  west  and  joins  the  neighboring  stream  from  the  Mount  Kaufmann  mass. 
The  position  of  this  moraine  and  the  precipitous  manner  in  which  its  unaltered 
slopes  pitch  under  the  stream  gravels  give  it  the  mimistakable  appearance  of  the 
mere  top  of  a  deeph'  buried  mass  beneath. 

Thus  the  stream  waste  is  filling  back  into  the  lower  part  of  the  Kizil-Art  \'alley, 
having  partialh'  buried  the  fresh  moraine  l>ing  in  its  mouth  and  covered  the  inner 
trough  bottom  for  some  7  versts  upstream,  so  that,  although  the  base  is  being 
raised  by  filling  back  of  waste,  the  upper  half  of  the  stream  has  not  yet  recovered 
from  some  previous  lowering  of  base  and  is  still  cutting  down  on  rock  bottom. 

The  only  tributan,-  amphitheater  which  I  had  occasion  to  examine  in  this  \-alley 
was  that  opposite  Bor  Daba,  4  versts  to  the  west.  It  contains  grass-covered 
moraine  of  fresh  topograph) ,  with  kettle-hole  lakes.  Its  bottom  seems  to  be  buried 
beneath  the  flood  plain  where  it  opens  into  the  Kizil-Art  or  tnink  valley.  There 
appeared  to  be  a  mass  of  ice  hanging  on  the  slope  some  2,000  feet  above. 

Two  of  the  branch  streams  of  the  Kizil-Art  dar\'a  were  seen  to  head  in  glaciers. 
These  branch  streams  and  their  valleys  appeared  to  join  confonnabh-  the  Kizil-Art 
darya  and  its  valle)-. 

The  occurrence  of  moraine  in  the  inner  trough  of  the  Kizil-Art  Valley  and  the 
occurrence  of  the  partial!)  -buried  moraine  island  where  tlie  inner  trough  bottom 
lies  buried  at  t!ie  moutli  of  tlie  stream  show  that  the  glacial  occupation  of  the  inner 
trough  was  prolaably  contemporary  witli  tlie  deposition  of  the  fresli  moraine  island. 


138 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 
ON    THE    PAMIR. 


The  region  from  Kizil-Art  pass  south  through  the  Great  Kara  Knl  l)asin  is  a 
splendid  field  for  the  study  of  glacial  geology.  All  along  the  trail  one  meets  with 
records  of  past  glacial  activity.  The  high  mountain  sides  are,  at  frequent  intervals, 
sharply  carved  into  large  amphitheaters  and  small  cirques,  while  the  plains  are 
dotted  with  piles  of  till.  From  our  camp  at  Kara  Kul  we  could  see  large  moraines 
spread  in  front  of  the  principal  valleys  around  the  liasin,  and  with  our  field-glasses 
we  clearly  .saw  the  glaciers  as  they  e.xist  to-day,  shriveled  up,  hanging  free-ended  in 
their  great  cirques  below  the  crest. 

ANCIENT   SHORELINES   AND   SEDIMENTS   OF   THE   GREAT    KARA    KUI,    BASIN. 

The  glacial  geologj-  of  the  Kara  Kul  region  was  found  to  be  so  intimately 
associated  with  the  lacustrine  that  it  has  seemed  best  to  begin  with  a  careful 
description  of  the  ancient  shorelines  and  sediments  observed  in  the  Cireat  Kara 
Kul  basin.  These  shorelines  resolve  themselves  into  two  classes — those  below  the 
150-foot  level  and  those  above  the  150-foot  level.  The  first  class  is  in  excellent 
preservation  ;  the  second  class  is  largely  obliterated. 


tig.  lUO.     The  Norlhern  Peninsula  ot  Kara  Kul.     The  white  of  the  lower  portion  of  the  right  half  of  the  illustration 

is  salt,  probably  CaS04. 

The  best  examples  of  these  shores  were  seen  on  the  northern  peninsula  (fig, 
100).  There  are  three  especially  well  marked  le\'els  at  about  60  feet,  120  feet,  and 
150  feet,  respectively,  above  the  present  lake  surface.  Where  cut  in  steep  rock- 
slopes  they  have  the  fonn  of  narrow,  inclining  terraces.  When  followed  around  to 
more  gradnalh-  sloping  land  they  are  found  to  be  broader,  gently  sloping,  and 
covered  with  deflating  fragments  of  slate.  The  slopes  are  marked  by  miniature 
bands  of  briefer  action,  especially  from  the  60-foot  mark  to  the  present  shore.  There 
they  occur  as  delicate  contours  at  remarkably  regular  intervals  of  about  6  or  7  feet 
drop,  as  though  there  had  taken  place  a  gradual  intermittent  recession  by  equal 
decrements.  The  remarkable  lack  of  after-erosion  and  the  general  freshness  of  the 
shorelines  can  not  be  too  much  emphasized. 

The  second  class,  or  older  shores,  lie  at  about  200  feet  and  320  feet.  On  the 
peninsula  they  are  seen  as  rounded-off  terraces  encircling  and  breaking  the  slope 


PHYSIOGRAPHIC   OBSERVATIONS. 


139 


of  the  higher  portions,  but  entirely  worn  down  in  some  places.     From  a  distance 
they  were  seen  to  cut  the  steep  slopes  coming  down  to  the  lake  on  the  west. 

From  the  eastern  shore  of  Lake  Kara  Kul  the  land  rises  with  a  slope  of  i  foot 
or  less  in  100,  and  holds  this  till  it  meets  the  fans  from  the  bordering  mountains, 
whence  it  rises  more  and  more  rapidly  and  bends  up  sharply  at  the  mountain's  base 


East  Crest 
A 


East  shore 
sediments 


62 


Fig.  101. — An  east-west  section  of  the  Kara  Kul  Basin. 

(fig.  loi).  The  surface  of  large  areas  between  the  lake  and  these  eastern  fans  consists 
of  nude,  finely  stratified,  blue-gra\-  clays.  A  considerable  depth  of  these  sediments 
is  well  matted  with  tape-like  grass  lying  flat  and  varying  in  width  from  '3  mm.  to 
3  mm.  The  roots  are  about  fj  mm.  in  diameter,  and  spring  from  the  bottom  of 
the  wide  blade,  the  fine  leaves  sprouting  just  above  them.  The  leaves  are  light 
brown  and  although  ver)-  thin  will  bear  a  tension  of  one-half  ounce  and  are  verj' 
pliable.     The  clays  are,  as  a  whole,  of  the  finest  flour,  but  contain  minute  flakes  of 


Fig.  102. — Section  of  Kara  Kul  sediments  exposed  in  Hillock  Bluff  about  100  feet  above  Lake. 

mica  and  here  and  there  a  layer  with  small  angular  pebbles.  The  lamination  is 
ver}-  perfect ;  it  is  easy  to  split  off  pieces  a  foot  in  area  and  only  half  an  inch  thick, 
although  the  same  piece  can  be  cnunbled  between  the  fingers. 

A  large  proportion  of  the  Kara  Kul  sediments  lie  horizontal,  but  there  are  also 
areas  of  vers-  much  disturbed  stratification  where  the  surface  is  broken  into 
irregularly  disturbed  mounds  or  little  hillocks,  among  which  deflation  and  wind 
carving  have  fonned  miniature  bluflfs  exposing  the  structure.     The  layers  seen  in 


140  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

these  bluffs  showed  a  peculiar  distortiou,  being,  in  most  cases,  bent  into  an  arch,  to 
which  tlie  mound  surface  is  concentric  and  confonnable  in  vertical  section  (fig.  102). 

While  wandering  among  these  iiillocks  we  suddenly  came  upon  an  elliptical 
lake  about  i  ,000  feet  by  700  feet,  with  its  long  axis  pointing  directly  toward  Kara 
Kul.  Its  surface  was  10  to  30  feet  below  the  level  of  the  plain,  the  walls  every- 
where extending  vertically  down  into  clear,  deep  water.  At  first  there  seemed  to 
be  no  reason  for  its  existence,  there  being  no  hydrographic  relation  with  the 
surrounding  topography.  Professor  Pumpelly  suggested  tliat  "  lol)cs  of  ice  liad 
been  buried  by  the  sediments ;  the  slow  melting  had  deprived  the  sediments  of 
their  support,  and  the  roof  tumbled  in,  probably  recentU',  leaving  the  deep  pool." 
Perhaps  a  more  gradual  sinking  of  the  surface,  occurring  as  the  buried  ice  melted, 
is  what  has  gixcn  these  areas  tlieir  hillock  topography  and  distorted  stratification. 
Professor  Davis  suggested  that  the  solution  of  tlie  underlying  .salt  deposits  could 
ha\e  resulted  in  the  same  conditions. 

Some  versts  north  of  this  region  there  is  a  moraine  sloping  under  the  Kara 
Kul  sediments ;  this  could  have  pushed  its  way  imder  water,  weighing  dowu  the 
glacial  ice  that  carried  it,  while  the  lake  depositions  covered  it  with  clay  .sediments. 
In  this  way  large  masses  of  ice  could  be  buried  beneath  the  sediments. 


Fig.  103. — Moraine  of  the  Kara  Kul  Basin,  looking  northwest  on  the  Older  Moraine.     An  overriding  Moraine  seen  in 

the  distance  on  the  right. 

OBSERVATIONS   ON   THE   GLACIAL   GEOLOGV   OF   THE   GREAT   KARA    KUL    BASIN. 

The  data  obtained  on  the  glacial  .geology-  of  this  basin  conform  very  well  with 
the  glacial  history  in  the  Alai  Valley.  Here,  also,  we  find  evidence  of  two  long- 
separated  glacial  epochs  and  indefinite  indications  of  a  third  advance  of  little  extent. 

The  Kara  Kul  sediments  seem  to  have  been  largely  deposited  between  the  first 
two  epochs  established.  The  older  moraines,  as  seen  north  of  the  lake,  are  in  the 
fonn  of  smoothed-ofF  masses  rising  out  of  the  stratified  lake  clays,  and  made  up  of 
semi-angular  bowlders  of  crjstalline  limestone,  black  slates,  red  sandstone,  gypsum, 
granite,  and  greenstone.  Where  observed  the\-  were  below  the  200-foot  level  and 
had  clearl)-  been  worked  over  by  the  lake,  which  has  left  numerous  bars  and  beaches 
of  cobbles  (fig.  103).  A  distributary  of  the  Kok-sai  darya  has  cut  a  very  broad,  flat- 
bottomed  channel  through  one  of  these  old  moraines. 


PHYSIOGRAPHIC    OBSERVATIONS. 


141 


Overriding  these  older  moraines  there  are  later  ones  of  fresh  topography  having 
many  iindrained  depressions  above  the  105-foot  level,  but  contoured  by  shorelines 
from  this  level  down.      No  sediments  were  seen  on  these  later  moraines. 

About  5  versts  northwest  of  the  isthmus  joining  the  north  peninsula  to  the 
mainland  we  had  the  best  opportunity  to  study  the  relations  of  the  moraines  to  each 
other  and  to  the  Kara  Kul  sediments  and  shorelines.  This  locality  includes  a  por- 
tion of  the  long,  high,  frontal  bluff  of  a  later  moraine  overriding  the  smoothed-ofT 
old  moraine.  The  second  or  later  moraine  has  here  reached  the  Kara  Kul  sedi- 
ments overlying  the  first  or  older  moraine  and  pushed  up  a  distorted  mass^of  these 


Figs.   104  and  105. — Sediment  pushed  up  by  an  overriding  Moraine. 


sediments  some  50  feet  high  (figs.  104  and  105).  Great  masses  of  the  bedded  clays 
lie  tilted  on  others  inclining  in  the  opposite  direction.  Some  stand  on  edge,  most 
of  them  are  bent,  and  numerous  small  columns  stand  where  carved  out  by  the 
wind,  their  stratifications  showing  inclinations  either  towards  or  from  the  over- 
riding moraine.     These  clays  are  at  present  ver\-  brittle. 

Just  to  the  east  of  this  locality  the  coating  of  clays  becomes  thinner  and  in 
places  seolian  carving  has  exposed  the  underlying  moraine,  which,  a  little  farther 
on,  rises  to  view.  On  certain  undisturbed 
surfaces  of  the  sediments  and  in  places  on 
the  beaches  of  both  the  old  and  the  new 
moraines  there  are  peculiar  bushy  concre- 
tions or  growths  of  calcium  sulphate  mixed 
with  clay  (fig.  106).  They  stand  upright, 
and  are  firmly  cemented  to  the  ground, 
which  fairh-  bristles  with  them  over  con- 
siderable areas.  Similar  concretions  wen- 
seen  forming  in  the  brine  pools  on  tlu- 
present  lake  shore.  I  am  indebted  to  Pro- 
fessor Palache,  of  Harvard,  for  the  analysis 
of  these  growths. 

From  these  various  observations  we  may  rea.sou  :  (i)  that  the  older  moraine 
predates  the  Kara   Kul  sediments  at  this  point;  (2)  that  tlie  deposition  of  at  least 


Fig.  106. — Concretionary  growths  of  Calcium  Sulphate 
on  Moraine  more  than  1 00  feet  above  Lake. 


142  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

that  thickness  of  sediments  disturbed  by  the  advancing  later  moraine  predates  that 
advance;  (3)  that  the  shore  of  a  saline  lake  has  retreated  from  about  the  150-foot 
level  to  its  present  position  since  the  maximum  of  the  overriding  moraine ;  (4)  that 
too  little  time  has  elapsed  for  much  alteration  either  by  solution  or  weathering  of 
the  salt  growths  since  the  lake-shore  existed  at  that  height ;  (5)  that  it  seems  prob- 
able that  the  flexibility  exhibited  by  the  pushed-up  sediments  during  the  advance 
was  due  to  their  being  well  soaked  under  water.  This  might  indicate  that  the  lake 
was  not  only  there  after  the  overriding  moraine  had  come  to  rest,  but  possibly  also 
during  the  advance,  and  soaked  the  otherwise  brittle  sediments  into  a  flexible  state. 
We  have  seen  that  the  Kara  Kul  sediments  consist  chiefly  of  the  finest  blue- 
gray  clays,  containing  small  flakes  of  mica  and  occasional  small  angular  fragments 
of  stone.  The  light  blue-gray  color  is,  in  itself,  remarkable,  for  all  fine  material 
brought  down  from  the  mountains  to-day  seems  to  be  red.  This  shows  that  the 
old  Kara  Kul  sediments  are  not  oxidized,  as  are  the  deposits  of  to-day,  and  that 


Fig.  107. — Looking  north  from  the  front  of  the  Kara  Jilga  Moraine  to  the  Kizil  Kul  Steppe. 

the)-  are  in  all  probability  a  product  of  glacial  grinding ;  their  thickness  \-aries  with 
the  topography  of  the  underljing  old  moraine.  One  minimum  estimate  gave  a 
thickness  of  40  feet  where  the  wall,  30  feet  high,  of  the  elliptical  lake  described 
was  seen  through  the  clear  water  at  least  10  feet  below  the  surface.  How  much 
deeper  the  sediments  continued  could  not  be  estimated.  All  this  accumulation  must 
have  taken  place  since  the  maximum  ad\-ance  attained  by  the  old  underlying 
moraine.  This,  together  with  the  width  of  the  channel  established  b)'  the  Kok-sai 
dar)-a,  is  good  indication  of  the  antiquity  of  the  underlying  moraine. 

The  kettle-hole  topography  of  the  overriding  moraines,  and  the  narrow 
V-shape  of  valleys  cut  in  them,  with  the  torrent  condition  of  streams  contained, 
show  what  a  relatively  short  time  has  elapsed  since  they  were  formed. 

THE    KARA  JILGA    MORAINE. 

It  will  be  seen  on  the  map  that  the  Kara  Jilga  darja  turns  an  acute  angle  at 
about  10  \ersts  upstream  from  its  mouth  in  Kara  Kul,  and  now  remains,  partially 
filling  the  deep  valley  between  this  little  lake  and  the  angle  of  the  Kara  Jilga.  Its 
surface  is  indented  with  frequent  kettle-holes,  and  its  topograph}-  is,  in  general,  very 


PHYSIOGRAPHIC   OBSERVATIONS.  143 

fresh.  The  moraine  front  forms  an  irregiilar,  steep  slope  rising  from  the  plain  some 
distance  below,  and  about  a  verst  to  the  north  of  Kotir  Kul.  Starting  at  the 
base  of  the  moraine,  the  plain  inclines  north  to  Kizil  Kul  (fig.  107). 

OBSERVATIONS    IN   THE   REGION   OF   KIZIL    KUL. 

Kizil  Kul,  as  the  upper  portion  of  the  Markan  Su  stream  is  indicated  on  the 
Russian  io-\'erst  map,  is  not  really  a  lake,  but  simply  a  sluggish  portion  of  the 
stream.  Here  the  Markan  Su  heads  in  three  branch  streams,  all  of  which  run  on 
broad  plains  of  clear  gravel,  broken  at  frequent  inter\'als  on  their  borders  b}-  large 
fans  of  angular  material.  These  plains  join  to  fonn  the  more  e.xpansive  stepjie 
around  the  upper  portion  of  Kizil  Kul,  and  in  the  midst  of  this  steppe  a  ledge 
mountain  about  500  feet  high  rises  sharply  from  the  waste. 

From  the  midst  of  the  various  branch  plains  there  rise  numerous  island  tops  of 
moraines,  with  apparenth'  unaltered  surfaces  and  slopes  pitching  sharply  under  the 
alluvium,  while  the  valley  sides  themselves  appear  to  be  partially  buried  by  the 
waste.     There  are,  also,  several  ledge  islands  in  the  midst  of  the  branch  flood  plain 


Fig.  108. — The  valley  heacling  a  little  west  of  Kizil-Art  and  joining  the  Kizil  Kul  Steppe. 

coming  down  from  just  west  of  Kizil-Art  pa.ss  (fig.  108).  Thus  this  whole  region 
has  the  appearance  of  a  deeply-carved  valley  system  partialh-  buried  in  waste,  much 
of  which  must  have  accumulated  since  the  dumping  of  the  moraines,  probably  of 
the  overriding  class  seen  in  the  Kara  Kul  basin.  There  are  also  traces  of  low 
terraces  contouring  the  slopes  bordering  the  Kizil  Kul  depression,  and  remnants  of 
an  ancient  plain  to  be  seen  sloping  back  in  a  gently  rolling  topography  above  the 
steep  valley  sides  and  on  the  ledge  island  some  400  feet  above  Kizil  Kul. 

On  a  side  excursion  about  5  versts  to  the  southeast  of  this  point  I  came  in 
view  of  a  larger  glacier  a  few  versts  to  the  east  and  flowing  south  from  the  Trans- 
Alai.  Unfortunately  there  was  not  time  to  visit  it,  and  the  bad  sand-storm  that 
came  up  made  it  useless  to  take  photographs.  Through  the  field-glasses  enough 
was  seen  of  its  long  ice-flow  to  show  that  it  that  it  might  be  an  important  point 
of  attack  for  the  glacial  geolog}-  of  this  region. 

FLUCTU.\TIONS    OF   L.\KK    LEVEL   .\ND   GLACI.\L   ADVANCES   EXPLAINED   BY 

CLIMATIC   CHANGES. 

With  the  little  time  available  it  was  hardly  possible  to  make  sufiicient  obser\-a- 
tions  to  definitely  pair  off  the  glacial  advances  with  the  old  shorelines  of  Kara  Kul. 
It  can,  however,  be  stated  that  during  each  wet  period  the  lake  rose  either  till  its 


144  EXPLORATIONS  IN  TURKESTAN. 

surface  increase  gave  enough  evaporation  to  equalize  the  influx,  or  till  it  reached  an 
overflow.  Whether  these  wet  periods  were  or  were  not  coincident  with  the  glacial 
advances  remains  to  be  pro\-ed.  Since  the  annual  range  of  temperature  is  here  so 
low  that  it  freezes  nearh-  every  night  even  on  the  lowest  steppes  aljout  Kara  Kul, 
it  is  natural  to  feel  that  a  sufficient  increase  of  precipitation  is  all  that  is  needed  for 
a  glacial  advance,  and  that  the  glacial  epochs  of  the  past  were  brought  about  by  the 
same  wet  periods  which  raised  the  surface  of  the  lake.  The  only  fallac}'  here  is 
tliat  there  might  have  been  a  wet  period  raising  the  lake  level,  but  during  which 
the  annual  temperature  was  so  high  that  not  enough  snow  would  have  accumulated 
to  bring  about  a  glacial  advance. 

Perhaps  the  most  extraordinarj-  circumstance  about  Kara  Kul  is  that  it  is  said 
to  overflow  occasionally,  although  it  is  so  strongly  saline  that  long  stretches  of  its 
shores  are  coated  to  a  thickness  of  2  to  3  feet  with  salt.  Severtzoff"  states  that 
during  high  northerly  stonns  the  water  is  driven  up  in  the  long  southern  arm,  over- 
flows into  a  branch  of  the  Murg-ab,  and  thence  into  the  Amu  dar^a. 


Fig.  109. —  Drowned  Valleys  on  ihe  wesl  side  of  the  North  Peninsula.      Looking  north  to  the  Trans- Alai  range. 

Unfortunately,  we  did  not  have  time  to  visit  the  southern  divide.  It  seems 
ver}"  likely  that  it  was  blocked  by  moraine  during  the  high  expansions  of  the  lake. 
A  moraine  during  the  earlier  epoch  might  have  dammed  and  raised  the  lake  to  the 
high  levels  marked  by  old  worn-down  terraces.  During  the  long  time  intervening 
between  the  two  advances  it  might  have  been  cut  down  by  overflow  and  other 
erosion  and  again  raised  by  the  overriding  moraine  of  the  later  epoch.  This 
reasoning  would  make  the  lake  expansions  coincident  with  the  glacial  advances. 
It  is,  however,  complicated  by  the  lowness  of  the  northern  divide  over  the  Kara 
Jilga  moraine,  but  Kotir  Kul  is,  by  Russian  leveling,  600  feet  above  Kara  Kul,  and 
the  divide  at  least  200  feet  above  that.  Without  the  great  overriding  moraine  this 
divide  would  be  several  hundred  feet  lower,  so  that  Kara  Kul  may  have  had  two 
outlets  during  the  earlier  glacial  epoch,  if  it  was  during  that  epoch  that  the  lake 
rose  to  the  200-foot  or  higher  levels  of  the  old  terraces.  There  has,  however,  been  no 
overflow  over  this  northern  divide  since  the  falling  into  place  of  the  overriding 
moraine,  for  its  topography  is  unaltered. 

Tlie  northeni  peninsula  rises  abrupth'  from  deep  water  on  the  west,  and  more 
gradually  from  the  shallow  water  and  lake  sediments  on  the  east.  Its  western  shore 
is  indented  with  deep  bays,  from  which  rise  steep  spurs  of  rock  as  islands.     The 


PHYSIOGRAPHIC    OBSERVATIONS.  145 

whole  has  tlie  appearance  of  a  mouutaiu  iiiiiss  formerly  normally  dissected  above 
water  and  now  flooded  in  the  lower  portions.  These  observations  tend  to  show 
that  when  the  normal  dissection  of  the  flooded  part  of  the  peninsula  took  place  the 
lake  stood  far  below  where  it  is  now,  and  possibly  did  not  exist  at  all.  It  was  then 
raised  to  tlie  old  high  levels,  and  must  have  remained  there  a  long  time,  for  the 
shores,  though  now  in  many  cases  obliterated,  are  broad,  even  where  cut  in  steep 
ledges.  Then  it  fell  again,  and  a  relatively  long  time  afterwards  was  raised  to  about 
the  150-foot  lev^el,  where  it  remained  some  time  and  then  graduall)'  receded,  leaving 
its  fresh  shores  following  in  and  out  of  the  old  peninsula  valleys.  The  lake  surface 
appears  to  have  stood  at  its  present  height  for  but  a  relatively  short  time,  for  its 
shores  show  very  little  cutting  from  wave  action  (fig.  no). 

Considering  all  facts  about  the  Kara  Kul  basin,  we  see  that,  although  there 
is  no  absolute  proof  for  associating  the  old  shorelines  of  the  lake  with  the  glacial 
advances,  they  naturally  group  themselves  together  by  probability' ;  for  if  Kara 
Kul  exists  as  a  result  of  moraine  damming  and  if,  as  seems  more  than  likely,  ice 
epochs  occurred  during  times  of  increased  precipitation,  the  greater  fluctuations  of 
lake  level  were  doubly  controlled  by  glacial  epochs.  Moreover,  the  ancient  300  to 
400-foot  shorelines  are  in  their  imperfect  state  of  preservation  similar  in  antiquity 
to  the  old  deeply  clay-buried  moraines,  and  the  shorelines  marked  from  about  the 
150-foot  level  down  are  similar  in  their  freshness  to  the  overriding  moraines  with 
their  unaltered  surface  topography.  As  further  evidence  we  have  the  fact  that  the 
overriding  moraines  are  cut,  where  they  extended  suflliciently  low  down,  by  the 
150-foot  and  lower  shores,  but  not  cut  by  the  200  to  320  foot  and  higher  levels.  It 
therefore  seems  proper  to  state  that  the  lake  surface  appears  to  have  risen  to  a 
height  of  320  feet  or  more  during  the  first  glacial  epoch  established  and  to  a  height 
of  about  150  feet  during  the  second  glacial  epoch  established. 

GLACIAL   EPOCHS. 

It  seems  only  reasonable  to  suppose  that  epochs  of  increased  glacial  conditions 
were  coincident  on  both  sides  of  the  Trans  Alai  range  and  in  neighboring  regions. 
In  the  Great  Alai  Valley  and  on  the  Pamir  we  have  one  class  of  moraines  of 
similar  antiquity  and  extent,  another  of  similar  freshness  and  e.xtent,  and  indications 
of  a  third  still  later  class  of  little  extent.  Evidence  thus  places  each  class  on  the 
Pamir  as  contemporary  with  its  respective  similar  class  in  the  Great  Alai  Valley. 

To  distinguish  the  two  definitely  established  glacial  epochs  we  may  name  the 
older  one  the  Alai  Epoch  and  the  later  one  the  Kunundi  Epoch.  It  is  therefore 
at  present  convenient  to  divide  Quaternary-  time  for  the  field  in  which  I  worked 

into  five  parts — 

f  Post  Kurumdi. 
I  Kurumdi  Epoch. 

Quaternary \  Orogenic  Epoch. 

I  Alai  Epoch. 
I  Pre-Alai. 


146  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

FORM  OF  THE  GREAT  ALAI  VALLEY, 
THE    VALLEY     ITSELF. 

Although  the  dimensions  of  the  Alai  Valley  have  already  been  given,  a  repeti- 
tion seems  necessary.  It  is,  except  for  the  flood  plains  of  streams,  a  smooth,  grass- 
covered  plain  about  75  miles  long,  averaging  12  miles  in  width,  and  broken  by 
transverse  undulations  where  moraines  project  from  the  principal  side  valleys.  It 
has  a  longitudinal  pitch  from  10,500  feet  at  the  pass  on  the  east  to  3,200  feet  at 
Darak  Kurgan  on  the  west  end,  and  a  transverse  inclination  of  about  one-half  a 
degree  alongside  streams  from  its  southern  to  its  northern  border.  The  Kizil  Su, 
or  trunk  stream,  thus  flows  close  to  the  northern  border. 

Very  few  of  the  side  streams  coming  down  from  the  Trans-Alai,  or  southern 
border,  reach  the  Kizil  Su,  except  in  high  flood.  On  July  14  we  followed  the  flood 
plain  of  the  Kizil-Art  dar>-a,  which  is  one  of  the  larger  streams,  from  Bor  Daba  to  the 
Kizil  Su.  Although  there  had  been  three  days  of  rainy  weather,  all  the  channels  of 
this  stream  were  dry  at  15  versts  down  from  Bor  Daba.  The  lower  portions  of  the 
flood  plains  of  larger  streams  from  the  Trans-Alai  are  often  several  versts  in  width 
and  generally  of  clean  gravel,  with  certain  strips  grown  over  with  loess,  and  rising 
in  the  middle  to  a  considerable  height  above  the  surrounding  plain.  These  observa- 
tions, together  with  the  extensive  distributary  s)-stems  as  seen  on  the  map,  are  good 
evidence  of  delta  accumulation.  In  the  eastern  half  of  the  valley  the  Kizil  Su  itself 
is  a  sluggish  stream  and  incapable  of  transporting  more  than  a  very  small  propor- 
tion of  the  immense  amount  of  waste  supplied  by  the  Alai  Valley  tributaries.  This 
is  shown  l:)y  the  splitting  of  the  stream  over  long  stretches  and  absence  of  any 
permanent  channel  cut  down  below  the  surrounding  plain. 

We  have  seen  that,  in  the  past,  great  accumulations  of  moraine  were  brought 
into  the  Alai  Valley,  that  since  the  Kurumdi,  or  later  glacial  epoch,  great  depths  of 
moraine  of  that  advance  have  been  l:)uried  by  later  waste,  and  that  the  valley  is  now 
rapidly  filling  up  with  alluvium.  A  general  glance  at  the  valley  as  a  whole  would 
show  that  it  has  the  character  of  a  fonnerly  deep  \'alle)'  now  much  filled  up  with 
waste.  The  ledges  flanking  the  mountains  on  both  sides  of  the  valley  slope 
sharply  into  alluvial  and  glacial  deposits.  It  wotdd  be  interesting  to  know  how  long 
this  valley  has  been  filling  up,  what  proportion,  if  any,  of  this  filling  took  place 
before  the  Alai  glacial  epoch,  what  proixyrtion  between  the  Alai  and  Kurumdi  epochs, 
how  much  since  the  Kurumdi  epoch,  and  how  far  down  it  would  be  to  bedrock  in 
a  cross-section.  Much  light  might  be  thrown  on  these  questions  in  exposures  of 
the  gorge  at  the  outlet  to  the  valley.  It  seems  highly  probable  that  the  valley  has 
suffered  from  morainal  blocking.  This  might  explain  the  existence  of  the  gorge 
that  drains  it  as  a  drop-over  from  the  high  zone  of  morainal  blocking  and  consequent 
alluvial  accumulations  into  lower  regions  unaffected  by  glacial  action. 

SIDE    TRIBUTARIES. 

The  side  valleys  emptying  into  the  Alai  Valley  from  the  Trans-Alai  range  have 
already  been  described  in  paragraphs  on  glacial  geology.  It  was  shown  that  there  had 
been  a  lowering  of  baselevel  of  those  streams  from  the  south  and  consequent  cutting 


PHYSIOGRAPHIC   OBSERVATIONS.  I47 

down  of  tlieir  floors  since  the  close  of  the  Alai  glacial  epoch,  and  that,  although  most 
of  this  cutting  down  took  place  before  the  close  of  the  Kunnndi  glacial  epoch,  the 
upper  portion  of  at  least  the  Kizil-Art  darya  is  still  cutting  down  in  rock  bottom. 
The  valley  fonns  of  those  side  streams  coming  down  from  the  north,  from  the 
Alai  range,  might  well  be  called  a  reverse  of  those  from  the  south  or  opposite 
side  of  the  Alai  \'alle\-.  We  had  a  good  general  view  of  manj-  northern  tributaries 
from  a  distance,  and  made  a  detailed  study  of  the  Sari  Tash  \'alley,  which  heads  at 
Katin-Art  pass.  This  belongs  to  that  class  of  valleys  which  had  in  the  past  the  steep 
V-shape,  containing  torrent  streams,  but  which  have  since  been  largely  buried  by 
waste,  forming  a  broad,  flat  surface  over  which  their  now  sluggish  streams  meander. 
In  the  Sari  Tash  Valle}'  only  peaks  of  the  rock  core  rise  from  the  nearly  talus-buried 
mountain  sides  (figs,  no,  in).  There  is  practically  no  transportation;  the  talus  is 
stationarj'  and  coated  nearly  to  the  top  with  loess  and  grass.    The  stream  meanders 


(^=talus;  i5=liraestone  ;  a^=anuvium.) 
Fig.  1 10. — Section  looking  north  up  the  Sari  Tash  Valley. 

between  grass  banks  to  within  half  a  mile  of  the  coast,  where  it  winds  between 
interlocking  fans  of  talus.  A  few  versts  east  of  the  mouth  of  this  valley  there  rises 
an  island  spur  separated  from  the  rest  of  the  range  by  Alai  Valley  alluvium. 

EXPLANATION   OF    CONDITIONS. 

It  is  evident  that  the  whole  side-valley  system  of  the  northern  border  has  been 
deeply  submerged  in  alluvium,  whereas  the  system  opposite,  on  the  southern  border, 
has  been  cut  down.  These  reverse  conditions  might  be  explained  by  a  simj)le  tilt  of 
the  region  decreasing  the  grade  of  southerl)-  flowing  streams  and  increasing  that  of 
northerly  flowing  streams ;  but,  as  will  be  shown  later,  that  would  not  fit  in  witli 
what  has  happened  to  the  Alai  Mountains.  The  simplest  explanation  seems  to  be 
a  sinking  of  the  Alai  Valley  with  the  region  including  its  northern  tributaries.  If 
this  took  place  with  a  fault  on  the  southeni  border,  it  ought  to  have  left  a  fault  cliff" 
which  might  explain  tlie  escarpment  at  the  base  of  the  Trans-Alai  range,  which 
escarpment  has  been  described  under  observations  on  glacial  geolog}-. 

Suess  states  on  authority  of  Ivanof  that  the  Alai  \'alley  is  partiall\-  surrounded 
by  lake  terraces.  He  considers  this  valley  as  orogenicallj-  the  eastern  extension  of 
the  Zerafshan  and  drains  the  supposed  lake  through  a  gorge  cut  back  bj-  a  capturing 


148 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


branch  of  the  Amu  dan-a,  which  is  the  present  outlet  of  the  Kizil  Su.  It  seems 
highly  probable  that  the  Alai  \'alley,  with  its  great  transverse  moraines,  may  have 
held  one,  or  even  several,  lakes  dnrino^  glacial  ejxjchs ;  but  a  lake  reaching  to  the 
height  of  our  escariDUient  terraces  would  be  high  above  the  lower  passes  over  the 
Alai  range,  and,  moreover,  we  observed  no  lake  sediments. 


Fig.  1 1 1. — The  eastern  side  of^lhe  Sari  Tash^Valley  from  about  5  versts]^below  Katin-Art_Pass. 

It  seems  probable  that  a  sinking  of  the  Alai  \'alley  with  the  region  including 
the  northern  side  tributaries,  accompanied  by  a  fault  on  the  southern  border,  would 
have  resulted  in  the  obser\-ed  truncation,  lowered  the  base  of,  and  caused  the 
deepening  of,  the  Trans-Alai  side  valleys,  while  the  part  going  down  would  have 
been  filled  up  with  waste.     This  fits  the  present  conditions  observed. 


Fig.  I  12. — Remnants  of  Floor  A,  as  seen  looking  down  from  jusi  below  Taldic  Pass. 


OBSERVATIONS    IN   THE   T.\LDIC   VALLEY. 

Our  route  led  us  twice  along  that  part  of  the  Taldic  dar}-a  between  its  somce 
at  Taldic  pass  and  Gulcha  on  the  southern  border  of  the  Fergana  lowlands.  On 
the  waj-  up  a  general  idea  of  the  valley  fonn  was  obtained ;  on  the  way  down  more 
detailed  observations  were  made.  * 

It  will  be  seen  on  the  map  that  this  stream  starts  with  a  northeasterh-  course, 
but  gradually  bends  toward  the  west,  and  finally  recrosses  the  meridian  of  its  source. 
A  straight  line  from  Taldic  pass  to  Gulcha  points  but  a  few  degrees  east  of  north. 


PHYSIOGRAPHIC   OP.SERVATIONS. 


149 


The  Taldic  Valley  increases  in  depth  from  about  500  feet  near  the  source  to  about 
3,000  feet  just  above  Gulcha ;  a  little  below  Gulcha  it  emerges  into  a  relatively 
shallow  channel  on  the  lowland  plain,  and  finally  joins  the  Kara  dar\'a,  a  branch  of 
the  Syr.  It  varies  greatlj'  in  width,  according  to  the  hardness  of  the  rock.  For 
about  15  versts,  part  in  black  silicious  limestone,  part  in  granite  and  hard  slate,  it 


Fig.  !  13. — Taldic  Valley  Terraces,  looking  up  the  Taldic  Valley  from  Floor  B,  about  63  versls  above  Gulcha. 

Floor  A  is  high  up  on  the  right. 

narrows  to  a  deep  canyon,  where  the  stream  is  a  roaring  torrent  running  partly  on 
ledge  bottom.  Where  cut  in  the  gypsum  series  it  broadens  out,  with  sides  sloping 
back  in  successive  steps  over  extensive  terraces.  Except  where  in  the  above-men- 
tioned canyon,  the  Taldic  darya,  from  about  20  versts  below  its  source  to  Gulcha,  is 
directly  contained  in  a  channel  of  often  rectangiilar  cro.ss-section,  averaging  some- 


Fig.  1 14. — Taldic  Valley  Terraces,  looking  up  the  Taldic  Valley  from  Floor  C,  about  46  versls  above  Gulcha, 

thing  like  500  feet  in  width  and  100  feet  in  depth,  and  cut  in  partially  cemented 
alluvial  conglomerate.  When  in  high  flood  the  stream  covers  the  whole  breadth  of 
the  bottom ;  at  other  times  it  is  largely  split  into  smaller  streams  rejoining  each 
other  on  its  irregular  gra\el  flood-plain.  The  accompanjing  profile  of  the  stream 
has  been  constructed  with  the  aid  of  Russian  leveling  notes,  and  tlie  characteristic 
terraces  have  been  projected  onto  it  from  my  approximate  measurements.  These 
terraces  have  been  lettered  A,  B,  C  (figs.  112-114). 


I50 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


The  first  traces  of  floor  A  are  found  as  long  sloping  spurs,  projecting  trans- 
versely into  the  valley  below  Taldic  pass.  Extending  down  the  \alley,  it  rapidly 
broadens  out  on  alluvium-covered  terraces,  and  appears  to  ha\e  emerged  on  to  a  waste- 
covered  piedmont  plain,  reach- 
ing to  witliin  25  versts  north 
of  the  present  Alai  range  axis. 
This  plain  has  now  been  exten- 
sively dissected,  and  remains 
only  in  frequent  flat-topped  hills 
capped  with  horizontally  hing 
conglomerate  and  in  the  sharper 
tops  of  other  hills  and  spurs 
reaching  to  the  proper  height. 
It  will  be  seen  by  the  profile 
that  it  spreads  horizontally  to 
the  north  from  the  range  axis 
and  remains  in  terraces  and  al- 
luvium 3,500  feet  above  stream 
at  Gulcha.  There  were  higher 
hills  that  rose  as  residuals  from 
the  alluvium  covering  portions 
of  the  level  of  floor  A  (fig.  112). 
Reaching  a  point  about  3 
versts  down  the  valle>-  from 
Taldic  pass,  the  stream  emerges 
abruptly  from  its  torrent  gorge 
into  the  wide  valley  at  Ak-Busa- 
Ga.  The  accompanying  sketch 
map  (fig.  115)  gives  a  rough 
idea  of  the  dimensions  of  the 
plain  of  the  valley  floor  and  posi- 
tions of  the  main  stream  and 
tributarj'  channels  at  Ak-Busa- 
Ga.  Here  we  find  a  transitional 
state.  The  trunk  stream  has 
sunk  a  channel  15  feet  deep 
through  the  grass  plain  and  into 
alluvial  conglomerates,  while  the 
side  tributaries  pass  over  falls 
into  their  gullies  leading  to  it. 
Since  these  falls  are  some  dis- 


Fig.  1 15. — Map  of  the  Ak-Busa-Ga  grass  plain  and  stream  channels. 


tance  from  the  plain  border,  it  is  evident  that  these  streaiTis  ha\-e  not  had  time  to 
cut  back  into  their  respective  vallej's  since  the  trunk  channel  was  sunk.  Passing 
down  through  Ak-Busa-Ga  outlet,  we  find  that  the  grass  plain  is  there  higher  above 


EXPLORATIONS  IN  TURKESTAN, 


Elevation  in  feet 
15000 


PROFILE    OF    VALLEY    TERRACES    AND    MORAINES    FROM    OSH    TO    KARA    KUL 


PHYSIOGRAPHIC   OBSERVATIONS.  I5I 

the  stream  and  forms  the  beginning  of  the  floor  B  terraces.  These  are,  at  first, 
narrow,  sloping  terraces  on  parallel  bedded  alluvial  conglomerate,  but  broaden  as 
they  are  followed  down  the  valley,  at  the  same  time  increasing  in  height  above  the 
stream  at  the  rate  of  about  26  feet  per  verst,  and  at  Gulcha  are  about  2,000  feet 
above.  Floor  B  has,  however,  been  much  dissected,  the  tributaries  having  cut 
down  on  a  normal  grade  to  the  trunk  stream,  leaving  intervening  alluvium-capped 
hills  and  spurs  as  portions  of  the  old  rock  bottom.  Its  greatest  width,  of  many 
versts  in  the  lower  half  of  the  valley,  is  evidence  of  prolonged  action  and  meandering 
of  the  stream  to  an  extent  well  towards  maturity  at  the  B  stage. 

Floor  C  seems  to  be  the  last  great  characteristic  in  the  records  of  this  valley. 
It  coincides  with  floor  B  on  the  plain  of  Ak-Busa-Ga,  but,  having  a  steeper  grade, 
separates  from  it  a  verst  or  so  farther  down  the  valley,  soon  attains  its  full  height 
above  stream,  and  continues  practically  parallel  with  it  all  the  way  to  Gulcha, 
except  for  a  few  short  stretches  missing  in  the  canyons.  This  floor  is  remarkably 
fresh  in  every  respect,  and  sunnounts  the  present  bed  of  the  stream  over  a  large 
proportion  of  its  course  with  vertical  and  often  with  overhanging  walls.  The 
larger  branch  streams  have  alread}'  cut  down  to  the  tnink  stream  on  a  normal 
grade,  but  small  tributaries  still  fall  from  floor  C  in  hanging  valleys. 

Long  portions  of  the  valley  sides  between  A  and  B,  and  between  B  and  C,  are 
marked  with  transitional  terraces,  and  where  the  valley  widens  there  is  a  series  of 
three,  and  sometimes  more,  freshly  cut  terraces  stepping  down  from  floor  C  to  the 
present  stream  bed.  The  striking  divergence  of  terraces  is  seen  b}-  a  glance  at 
the  profile.  The  nmning  out  of  the  A  and  B  terraces  is  a  characteristic  feature 
soon  recognized  in  the  valley,  and  it  was  from  that  fact  that  the  block  tilt  described 
below  was  first  inferred. 

OBSERVATIONS  ON  THE  SOUTHERN  BORDER  OF  THE  FERGANA  LOWLAND  PLAINS. 

About  30  versts  down  stream  from  Gulcha  the  Taldic  darya  emerges  on  to  the 
lowland  plains  of  Fergana.  We  made  a  brief  study  of  the  southern  border  of  these 
plains  from  20  or  30  versts  east  of  Osh  to  Jisak,  on  the  railroad,  30  versts  northeast 
of  Samarkand.  Most  of  this  stud)-  was  from  the  railroad  train,  but  there  was  more 
detailed  work  done  in  the  region  of  Osh,  and  obser\'ations  made  there  ])rojected 
on  to  the  similar  forms  along  the  rest  of  the  border.  It  was  found  that  the  waste 
from  the  Alai  Mountains,  formerly  spread  in  extensive  fans  on  the  border  of  the 
plains,  has  been  tilted  up  towards  the  mountains,  dissected  in  its  upper  portions, 
and  buried  bj-  later  waste  on  its  lower  portions.  It  was  obsei"ved  from  a  distance 
that,  in  general,  the  Alai  range  foot-hills  begin  in  long  flat-topped  masses  parallel 
with  the  range  and  rising  abruptly  to  a  considerable  height  above  the  plains. 

The  stream  followed  by  the  route  from  Langar  to  Osh  crosses  tlie  critical  zone, 
including  the  dissected  waste  and  the  line  where  it  inclines  under  the  later  waste. 
The  upper  part,  or  that  followed  between  Takka  pass  and  Langar,  was  found  to 
have  cut  back  a  narrow  channel  increasing  in  depth  to  about  60  feet  at  Langar, 


15^ 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


where  a  Russian  station-house  stands  on  the  terrace  sunnounting  it.  The  side  rivulets 
pass,  on  their  way  to  the  tnmk  stream,  through  deep  gullies  with  a  sharp  double 
change  of  slope  in  their  cross-sections,  as  though  there  had  been  an  increased  rate 
of  cutting  down  (fig.  ii6).  They  are  cut  in  partially  cemented  conglomerate,  inter- 
bedded  with  fine  material.  The  station-house  ter- 
race extends  down  the  valley  parallel  with  higher 
terraces,  all  of  which  are  cut  in  apparently  hori- 
zontally bedded  conglomerate. 

As  this  conglomerate  was  followed  down  the 
valley,  it  was  found  that  a  larger  and  larger  pro- 
portion of  it  assumed  the  fonns  of   partings  of 
-Section  to  show  double  change  of  g^avel,  filled  between  with  fine  pulverous  material 
slope  in  Langar  Gullies.  resembling  locss.     Througliout  the  lower  portion 

of  the  valley  the  stream  resembles  the  Taldic  darva  in  that  it  is  largely  split  into  sepa- 
rate channels  rejoining  each  other  on  the  irregular  flood  plain  of  gravel.  There 
were  occasional  higher  island  portions  between  these  channels,  which  were  coated 
with  loess,  sometimes  pure  with  \-ertical  cleavage,  sometimes  interbedded  with  part- 
ings of  gravel,  and  grown  over  with  grass. 

About  20  versts  from  Langar  the  valley  opens  out  on  to  the  lowland  plains. 
On  the  way  to  this  point,  the  terraces  seen  in  the  upper  portion  of  the  valley  had 
successively  disappeared  under  the  flood  plain,  while  here  tlie  conglomerates  formed 


Fig.  1 16.- 


Fig.  1  17. — Section  en  route,  20  versts  north  of  Langar.  looking  15'  south  of  west. 

the  later  waste. 


The  tilted  waste  inclines  under 


a  low,  broad  .slope  inclining  gently  to  the  north  and  sinking  under  the  loess  of  the 
lowland  plains  along  a  well-defined  line,  running  about  15°  south  of  west.  The  slope 
itself  was  cut  by  shallow  valleys  pitching  directly  with  its  inclination,  running  par- 
allel with  each  other,  and  with  their  lower  portions  apparently  submerged  in  the 
waste  they  had  spread  on  the  plains.  Looking  south  toward  the  mountains,  we 
could  see  that  the  conglomerate  slope  extended  back  on  to  the  flat,  inclining  surfaces 
surmounting  pyramidal  masses  dissected  from  it,  and  still  farther  back,  over  the 
sharp  tops  of  higher  hills  (fig.  117). 


PHYSIOGRAPHIC   OBSERVATIONS.  I53 

ATTEMPT   AT  ^CORRELATION   OF    RECENT   GEOLOGY   OF    THE  MOUNTAINS   AND   PLAINS. 

The  following  suppositions  seem  to  account  for  the  various  land  forms  observed 
along  the  route  from  Kizil-Art  pass  north  to  the  lowland  plains,  but  it  should  be 
added  that  generalizations,  such  as  block  movements,  can  not  be  definitely  established 
without  a  study  of  se\'eral  other  profiles  across  the  ranges  in  question. 

(i)  Floor  A  of  the  Taldic  Valley  profile,  the  great  extent  of  which  was  seen 
from  prominent  points  above  the  valley,  is  evidence  that  in  earlier  Quateniar)-  time 
the  Alai  Mountains  had  been  degraded  till  a  waste-covered  piedmont  plain  had 
formed  on  the  north  side  to  within  25  versts  of  the  core  of  the  range. 

(2)  When  this  stage  had  been  reached,  there  seems  to  have  taken  place  a  dis- 
location, essentially  parallel  to  the  range  axis,  and  some  75  versts  to  the  north  of  it, 
while  either  the  plains  to  the  north  sank  or  the  mountains  were  raised  by 
a  block  uplift.  Whichever  happened,  it  appears  that  the  mountains  with  a  belt 
some  50  versts  in  width  of  the  old  piedmont  to  the  north  were  raised  at  least  1,500 
feet  relati\'ely  to  the  plains  north.  As  this  movement  took  place,  the  Taldic  dar^-a, 
as  an  example,  cut  down  through  the  raised  piedmont  and  formed  a  valley  increas- 
ing in  depth  from  about  500  feet  near  the  crest  to  1,500  feet  at  the  dislocation,  while 
its  various  tributaries  dissected  the  mass  on  both  sides,  leaving  portions  of  the  old 
plain,  some  of  which  still  exist  as  floor  A,  recording  its  former  extent.  The  floor 
of  the  trunk  valley  thus  formed  is  the  one  lettered  B  in  the  profile. 

(3)  The  great  width  of  floor  B  in  the  lower  half  of  the  Taldic  Valley,  and  the 
considerable  thickness  of  alluvium  on  its  old  ledge  bottom  there,  are  evidences 
of  prolonged  meandering  of  the  stream  and  filling  back  of  waste.  In  other  words, 
there  was  a  decrease,  or  possibly  a  cessation,  of  relative  uplift  at  the  B  stage. 

(4)  There  seems,  then,  to  have  begun  a  block  tilt  of  the  belt  hing  between  the 
northern  base  of  the  Trans- Alai  range  and  the  old  dislocation  zone,  about  75  versts 
to  the  north  of  the  Alai  range  axis,  the  rotation  taking  place  about  a  line  some- 
where under  the  present  Alai  range  axis,  raising  that  part  to  the  north  and  lowering 
that  to  the  south.  As  a  result,  those  streams  flowing  north  in  the  Alai  Mountains 
cut  their  way  down  through  that  part  which  was  raised,  lea\ing  mnnerous  terraces 
to  record  the  transition.  At  the  same  time,  the  head  of  the  Taldic  valley,  being 
south  of  the  rotation  axis,  was  tilted  back,  decreasing  its  grade,  which  explains  the 
preservation  of  floor  B  in  the  broad  grass-plain  of  Ak-Busa-Ga.  The  lower  portions 
of  valle)-  s\stems  south  of  the  crest  were  being  tilted  down  below  their  Alai  \'alley 
base-level,  and  consequently  choked  with  waste.  Another  consequence  of  this  tilting 
down,  suggested  by  Professor  na\is,  was  the  increase  of  grade  of  slope  from  south  of 
of  the  Alai  crest,  aiding  the  transportation  of  loose  material  and  a  rapid  sharpening  of 
the  peaks  which  to-day  project  as  pinnacles  from  the  talus  slopes  (fig.  119).  A  block 
tilt  seems  to  be  the  only  way  to  explain  the  rapid  increase  of  height  abo\-e  stream  of 
terraces  in  valleys  ninning  north  and  the  deeply  filled  up  character  of  valley  systems 
running  south  from  the  supposed  rotation  axis.  ]\Ioreo\er,  the  old  piedmont,  or 
floor  A,  now  lies  horizontal,  although  it  must  have  fonnerly  inclined  to  the  north. 


154 


EXPLORATIONS  IN  TURKESTAN, 


How  much  width  of  the  Great  Alai  Valle\-  was  incUided  in  the  block  tilt  is 
uncertain.  It  was,  however,  shown  in  the  discussion  on  the  Alai  Valley  fonn  that 
there  has  been  a  lowering  of  base-level  and  consequent  deepening  of  the  valleys 
emptying  into  the  great  valley  from  the  Trans- Alai  range,  and  that  this  lowering 
had  taken  place  since  the  close  of  the  Alai  glacial  epoch.  It  was  further  shown 
that  this  took  place  with  a  depression  of  a  belt  including  the  side-valley  systems  from 
the  north  and  possibly  reaching  to  the  ver>'  base  of  the  Trans-Alai  range.  The 
depression  and  filling  up  of  the  Sari  Tash  Valley  and  others  running  south  from 
the  Alai  range  was  probabh-  brought 
about  by  a  block-tilt.  This  tilt  can 
explain  the  observed  changes  of  both 
the  Alai  and  Trans-Alai  ranges,  and 
since   the   deepening  of  valleys    in  "-^ 

the  latter  took  place  after  the  close 
of  the  Alai  glacial  epoch,  this  tilt  probably 
occurred  since  that  epoch.  It  is,  however,  not 
likely  that  this  one  tilt  was  the  only  move- 
ment that  took  place ;  in  fact,  we  have  seen 
that  the  border  of  the  lowland  plains  was  tilted 
up,  presumably  during  the  block-tilt,  and  there 
is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  Trans-Alai 
range  did  not,  at  the  same  time,  move  either 
up  or  down  a  little  on  the  block-tilt  dislocation 
bordering  it.  If  the  tilting  of  the  waste  on  the 
lowland  plains  was  caused  by  a  drag-up  on  the 
block-tilt  dislocation  there,  the  tilted  waste  was 
deposited  largel>-  during  and  before  the  Alai 
epoch,  while  the  deposit  overlying  its  lower  portions  are,  in  age,  from  bottom  up, 
orogenic  to  present,  inclusive. 

The  relative  antiquity  of  different  horizons  might  be  estimated  in  two  ways: 
(i)  as  directlv  proportional  to  magnitude  of  dip  less  normal  surface  slope  of  fans  of 
that  coarseness  of  material ;  (2)  as  directly  proportional  to  thickness  of  overlying 
accumulations.  These  methods  would,  however,  be  complicated  from  the  fact  that 
the  rate  of  tilting  seems  to  have  been  accelerated  from  the  beginning,  for  the 
transition  of  valley  form  was  always  to  the  narrow  from  the  broad.  This  compli- 
cation might  be  overcome  by  careful  measurements  of  terraces  and  determination  of 
the  factor  of  acceleration. 

EX.\MPLE. 


Fig.  118. —  Explanatory  diagram  for  example  in 
determining  relative  antiquity  of  horizons  of 
the  waste  on  the  plains. 


Let  n  be  the  present  surface  with  normal  slope. 
the  ages  of  which  are  to  be  detennined.     (See  fig.  1 1 
Let  dA  and  dB  =  depths  below  surface. 

age  ^      <{A- 


Let  A  and  B  be  two  horizons, 
S.) 


Let  /  =  acceleration  of  tilting. 


estimate. 


ageB 


n)      l_ 
<{B-n)^  f 


dA       I 

—7-  X  -,  as  a  rough 


PHYSIOGRAPHIC   OBSERVATIONS. 


155 


MISCELLANEOUS    OBSERVATIONS    ON    THE    LOWLAND    PLAINS. 

In  the  region  of  Osh  there  are  several  high,  nigged  mountains  of  cn'stalline 
limestone  rising  as  monadnocks  from  the  waste  of  the  plain.  The  Syr  Dar)-a,  where 
crossed  between  Khokan  and  Schust,  was  found  to  flow  but  a  few  feet  below  the 
level  of  the  plains.  The  ruins  of  the  ancient  town  of  Ak-si  are  being  cut  by  the 
river  meandering,  but  no  definite  data  as  to  change  of  level  or  relations  was  obtained. 
The  waste  of  the  plains  on  the  northern  border  has  been  tilted  up  toward  the 
mountains,  dissected  in  its  upper  portions,  and  buried  in  its  lower  portions,  in  a 
manner  similar  to  the  southern  border. 


Fig.  1 19. — TTie  sharp  peaks  south  ot  the  Alai  Crest.      Taken  from  a  peak  some  versls  east  of  Kalin-Art  Pass. 

CONCLUSION. 

The  results  of  the  Pamir  expedition  have  shown  that  the  correlation  of  the 
recent  geolog}'  of  the  mountains  and  the  plains  in  the  field  we  covered  is  not  only 
possible,  but  practicable,  to  attempt.  We  have  already  found  a  general  connection 
between  magnitude  of  the  valley  canning  brought  about  by  orogenic  movements  and 
distribution  of  corresponding  depositions  on  the  plains,  and  have,  to  a  certain  extent, 
found  the  glacial  division  of  time  in  which  these  movements  took  place.  When 
we  consider  the  few^  days  in  which  all  this  was  found  out,  it  seems  that  more  detailed 
work  on  the  terraces  and  dislocating  zones  ought  to  jueld  remarkably  anah^tic  results. 

If  work  is  to  be  continued  in  this  field,  the  following  plan  is  suggested : 

1.  A  detailed  study  of  Sok  Darja  Vallc}',  which  heads  in  the  two  large  glaciers 
in  the  heart  of  the  Alai  range  and  flows  north  on  to  the  lowland  plains  of  Fergana. 

2.  Having  found  the  relations  of  terraces  to  moraines  and  to  the  border 
of  the  plains  in  the  Sok  Dar^-a  Valle}',  proceed  to  study  the  great  longitudinal 
valley  of  the  Zerafshan,  where  artifacts  are  extreme!)'  abundant.  Then,  if  definite 
relations  of  artifacts  to  alluvium,  to  terraces,  to  moraines,  are  found,  time  units  may 
be  projected  to  erosion,  and  deposition  units  determined  in  the  first  valley. 

3.  It  would  be  of  great  interest  to  correlate  the  old  expansion  of  Great  Kara  Kul 
with  the  glacial  advances,  and  to  make  volinnetric  and  surface  area  determinations 
of  each  expansion  and  its  sediments.     A  few  approximate  profiles  would  do  this. 

4.  A  careful  study  of  the  Great  Alai  \'alle)-,  and  an  attempt  to  detennine 
the  thickness  and  age  of  its  glacial  debris  and  of  the  waste  filling  it.  The  entrance 
of  the  gorge  at  its  outlet  might  be  a  good  point  of  attack. 


TURKESTAN 


MAP    OF    SOUTHEKN    TURKESTAN 


.  Riiuu-  of  wlioK-  j.a 


_huiij.<-llv  i-i.ilv 

_  tllllltlllf^lUll   |JIUlV 


ao  BO  loo 


r\ 


A  Geologic  and  Physiographic  Reconnaissance  in 

Central  Turkestan. 


By  Ellsworth  Huntington, 

Carnegie  Research  Assistant. 


157 


A  Geologic  and  Physiographic  Reconnaissance  in 

Central  Turkestan. 


Bv  Ellsworth  Huntington, 

Carnegie  Research  Assistant. 


ITINERARY. 


The  following  pages  present  the  results  of  a  journey  in  Central  Asia,  among 
the  mountains  of  Russian  and  Chinese  Turkestan,  during  August  and  September, 
1903,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Camegie  Institution  of  Washington.  The  i)uq)ose 
of  tlie  journey  was  specifically  the  detennination  of  the  later  geological  history 
of  the  region,  and  especialh-  of  the  changes  in  the  physical  conditions  of  the  country 
with  respect  to  their  influence  on  early  lunnau  history.  In  the  absence  of  any  gen- 
eral knowledge  of  the  physiography  of  the  region  it  seemed  advisable  to  undertake 
a  reconnaissance  in  which  the  more  obvious  problems  were  examined,  while  those 
that  required  prolonged  work  in  one  place  were  deliberatelv  set  aside  for  future 
study.  In  pursuance  of  this  plan,  two  months  were  spent  in  following  the  route 
shown  on  the  accompanying  sketch  map  (fig.  120),  traveling  slowl)-  on  horseback 
at  the  rate  of  scarceh-  25  miles  a  day,  and  rareh-  staging  in  one  locality  over  two 
nights.  From  the  town  of  Przhevalsk,  fonnerly  known  as  Kara  Kul,  at  the 
eastern  end  of  Issik  Kul  or  Lake  Issik,  the  road  led  (July  27)  southwestward  over 
the  lofty  Tian  Shan  plateau  to  Chadir  Kul  (August  6),  thence  southward,  still 
among  the  mountains,  to  Shor  Kul  (August  15),  and  again  southwestward  across 
the  border  of  the  interior  basin  to  Kashgar,  the  capital  of  Chinese  Turkestan 
(August  21).  The  return  journey  led  westward  across  the  mountain  spur  between 
the  Tian  Shan  and  Alai  ranges,  via  the  Terek  pass,  12,700  feet  high,  to  Osli,  in  the 
Fergana  basin  of  Russian  Turkestan  (September  5)  ;  then  southwestward  to 
Karategin  in  tlie  Alai  Mountains  (September  18) ;  and  finally  northward  again,  to 
Marghilan  and  the  railroad  (September  25).  Although  ten  passes  were  crossed  at 
a  height  of  over  12,000  feet,  the  road  on  the  whole  was  not  one  of  great  difl[icult\-, 
and  troublesome  snow  or  ice  was  encountered  in  only  three  places.  The  district 
traversed  measured  about  350  miles  from  east  to  west,  and  225  from  north  to  south. 

159 


i6o 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


PLAN  OF  REPORT. 

Although  the  main  purpose  of  the  reconnai.ssance  was  the  study  of  the 
ph%siograph\-  and  Ouateinar\-  geologA'  of  the  countn-,  some  attention  was  given  to 
the  records  of  earlier  times.  .Accordingly,  it  is  proposed  to  discuss  first  the  Paleo- 
zoic geology  ver>-  briefl\ ,  llitn  the  Mesozoic  and  Tertiary  geology  more  at  length 
and  with  some  mention  of  their  relation  to  formations  of  similar  dates  in  south- 
western United  States,  and  lastly  the  Quaternary  geology,  which  will  be  taken  up 
with  considerable  fidlness.  Under  the  last  head  will  be  included  a  discussion  of 
the  physiographic  jiroNinces  into  which  the  region  is  naturally  divided  and  of  the 
processes  which  have  been  instrumental  in  producing  the  present  land  forms. 
In  conclusion,  some  attention  will  be  devoted  to  a  consideration  of  the  evidence  of 
changes  of  climate  during  recent  geological  times  and  to  an  attempt  to  subdivide 
the  Quaternary  era  on  the  basis  of  these  changes. 


0     20     40     DO    80     100 


Authors    route 


Fig.  120. — Sketch  map  of  Central  Turkestan. 

THE  PALEOZOIC  SERIES. 

In  Central  Turkestan  a  single  succession  of  strata  is  repeated  again  and  again, 
with  only  slight  local  modifications.  The  oldest  obser\-ed  fonnation  is  an  ancient 
white  marble,  shot  through  and  through  with  intrusions  of  granite.  It  was  noticed 
only  in  the  Alai  Mountains  in  the  neighborhood  of  Kok  Su  and  Karategin.  Its 
junction  with  the  overlving  formation  was  not  seen,  but  the  contact  presumably  shows 
an  unconfonnity,  as  a  conglomerate  near  the  base  of  the  covering  strata  contains 
pebbles  of  the  marble.  The  granite  which  is  intruded  into  the  marble  is  of  much 
later  date,  for  it  occurs  abundanth'  in  the  Paleozoic  series  in  the  ridges  of  the  Tian 
Shan  plateau  and  along  the  north  side  of  the  Alai  range.  The  main  body  of  the 
Paleozoic  series  is  a  great  thickness  of  limestones,  many  of  them  .slaty,  which 
are  stated  by  Tchernachef  to  be  of  Devonian  and  Carboniferous  age.  They  are 
greatly  folded  and  have  been  penetrated  not  only  by  granite  intrusions,  but  also  by 


RECONNAISSANCE    IN    CENTRAL   TURKESTAN. 


l6l 


some  basaltic  lavas,  as  may  be  seen,  for  instance,  in  the  Sugun  Valley  west  of  Shor 
Kul.  The  folding  of  the  Paleozoic  strata  (see  fig.  122)  is  of  the  sort  which  is 
associated  with  mountain  building,  hence  at  the  end  of  the  Paleozoic  era  or  in  the 
earh-  part  of  the  Mesozoic  this  part  of  Central  Asia  must  have  been  highly 
mountainous.  In  evidence  of  this  it  may  be  pointed  out  that  the  succeeding 
unconfonnable  conglomerates  are  so  coarse  that  they  could  only  have  been  fonned 


Fig.  1 2 1 . — Sketch  map,  showing  location  of  Figure  1 20. 


subaerially  in  a  region  of  considerable  relief,  and  yet  at  the  time  of  their  deposition 
the  old  folds  of  limestone  and  slate  had  already  suffered  great  denudation.  As  a 
rule,  the  hard  Paleozoic  strata  are  found  in  the  highlands,  while  the  softer  Mesozoic 
and  Tertiar\'  strata  occur  in  basins  among  the  highlands  and  mountains ;  but  this 
seems  due  less  to  the  superior  resistance  of  the  older  rocks  than  to  the  fact  that 
thev  were  bent  down  where  they  are  covered,  and  that  the  younger  strata  were  largely 
fonned  in  the  very  basins  which  they  now  occup)-. 


l62 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


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RECONNAISSANCE    IN    CENTRAL   TURKESTAN. 
THE  MESOZOIC-TERTIARY  SERIES. 


163 


Lying  unconforinably  on  the  eroded  surface  of  the  folded  Paleozoic  strata  is  a 
thick  series  of  Mesozoic  and  Tertian,-  formations,  the  sequence  of  which  at  various 
places  is  shown  in  Table  I.  These  begin  with  ver)-  coarse  conglomerates,  which 
gradually  become  finer  and  are  interstratified  with  sand.  Then,  by  gradual  transi- 
tions, the  sand  passes  into  the  shale  of  a  coal-bearing  series,  which  is  probabh- 
Jurassic,  .•\bove  these  there  seems  to  be  a  slight  unconformity  by  erosion.  When 
deposition  was  renewed  the  first  strata  were  conglomerates  of  fine  te.xture,  and  a 
brick-red  or  vermilion  sandstone,  which   in  some  places  shows  a  peculiar  cross- 


Fig.  122.  —  Folds  in  the  Limestone  in  the  Sugun  Valley  west  of  Shor  Kul.  looking  west. 

bedding  on  a  large  scale.  Everywhere,  with  one  doubtful  exception,  the  vennilion 
sandstone  passes  conformably  into  a  series  of  fossiliferous  limestones  and  marls  of 
Cretaceous  and  early  Tertian-  age,  which  vary  considerabh-  from  place  to  place, 
although  the  other  strata  are  ver>'  uniform  over  large  areas.  The  overlying  Tertiary 
layers  consist  of  red  sandstone,  which  often  forms  a  bright  carmine  band  one  or 
two  hundred  feet  thick,  a  heav\-  pink  sandstone,  a  brown  .sandstone,  and  a  thick 
brown  conglomerate.  These  strata  form  a  single  series,  and  pass  gradually  into  one 
another  witli  no  unconfonnities,  e.xcept  a  slight  one  between  the  pink  and  the  brown 
sandstones  which  was  noticed  in  the  fine  section  near  Sunguu,  west  of  Shor  Kul. 
The  term  "sandstones,"  as  applied  to  all  these  formations — the  red  (carmine),  the 


164 


EXPLORATIONS   IN   TURKESTAN. 


pink,  and  the  brown — is  not  exact,  for  while  certain  parts  are  composed  of  true  sand, 
small  portions  are  shaly,  and  large  parts  are  composed  of  very  fine  material,  which 
is  neither  sand  nor  clay,  bnt  a  sort  of  silt  which  often  reseml)les  loess.  Tlie  bedding 
is  very  even  at  the  hone,  but  signs  of  subaerial  deposition  make  their  appearance 
below  the  middle  of  the  pink  beds.  At  first  there  are  sun-cracks  and  ripple-marks, 
then  thin  lenses  of  a  slighly  different  texture  from  the  surrounding  rock,  and 
finally  in  the  brown  sandstone  veiy  distinct  stream  channels  filled  with  fine  gravel. 
Throughout  the  Tertiary  series,  from  the  limestones  upward,  the  layers  are  discon- 
tinuous; at  any  given  point  the  bedding  seems  horizontal  and  unbroken,  yet  if 
individual  beds  are  traced  for  some  distance  they  gradually  die  out. 


Fig.  123. — Ripple-marks  on  the  lower  half  o(   the  pink  sandstone  near  Kan  Su,  west  of  ICashgar. 

The  conditions  under  which  the  Mesozoic-Tertiary  series  were  deposited  seem 
to  have  been  largely  subaerial,  or  at  least  non-marine.  The  coarse  conglomerates 
at  the  base  probably  indicate  arid  or  semi-arid  conditions  in  a  region  of  considerable 
relief.  As  relief  grew  less,  or  as  the  climate  grew  moister,  the  gravel  of  the  con- 
glomerate gave  place  to  sand  and  that  in  turn  to  shale  ;  in  the  latter  are  four  or  five 
coal  seams.  The  next  period,  that  of  the  vennilion  beds,  seems  to  have  opened  at 
a  time  of  subaerial  deposition  when  the  conglomerates  and  the  cross-bedded  .sand- 
stones were  fonned;  but  toward  the  end  the  encroachment  of  the  sea  is  indicated 
by  the  deposition  of  the  marls  and  fossiliferous  limestones.  Elsewhere  throughout 
the  whole  Mesozoic-Tertiary  series  fossils  seem  to  be  wholly  absent,  although  the 
deposits  are  well  fitted  to  preserve  the  remains  of  plants  and  animals  if  any  had 


RECONNAISSANCE    IN    CENTRAL   TURKESTAN.  165 

existed  ;  but  here  the  calcareous  strata,  which  show  other  evidences  of  being  marine, 
contain  fossils  in  abundance.  Above  the  limestones  the  strata  are  at  first  red,  as 
though  the  shallowing  of  the  sea  allowed  the  ver}'  highly  weathered  soil  of  an  old 
land  mass  to  be  washed  farther  and  farther  out  into  the  area  of  deposition.  The 
succeeding  formations,  the  pink  and  brown  sandstone  and  the  brown  conglomerate, 
show  a  nearer  and  nearer  approach  to  present  conditions.  It  appears  as  though, 
after  the  retirement  of  the  sea,  the  land  was  covered  with  great  playas,  on  which 
water  first  stood  in  thin  sheets,  fonning  ripple-marks  in  the  mud  (see  fig.  1 23),  and 
then  retired  or  was  evaporated,  allowing  the  surface  to  become  sun-cracked.  As 
time  went  on  streams  began  to  flow  across  the  plajas,  at  first  slow  and  broad  and 
able  to  cut  only  shallow  channels,  which  were  afterwards  filled  and  covered,  assuming 
the  form  of  very  thin  lenses  of  a  material  slightly  different  from  that  of  the  surrounding 
playa  strata.  Then,  as  the  strength  of  the  streams  increased,  sand  was  deposited 
over  the  whole  area,  and  the  channels,  now  deep  and  distinct,  were  filled  with  gravel. 
Lastly,  gravel  was  deposited  almost  everywhere. 

Some  of  these  changes  may  be  of  climatic  origin,  some  may  be  due  to  warping 
of  the  crust,  and  some  seem  to  result  from  the  lessening  of  relief  by  erosion.  Thus 
in  the  earlier  Mesozoic  times  the  change  from  coarse  conglomerate  to  the  fine  coal 
shales  may  be  due  entirely  to  the  last-named  cause,  by  which,  as  the  mountains  were 
worn  away  and  the  intennount  basins  were  filled,  relief  became  less  and  the  size  of 
the  transported  materials  became  smaller,  until  the  coal-bearing  shales  were  formed. 
The  ne.xt  change,  from  the  coal  measures  to  the  red  conglomerate  and  the  cros;;- 
bedded  .sandstone,  is  much  more  sudden  and  probably  indicates  a  warping  and 
uplift  by  which  previously  base-leveled  areas  were  raised  and  subjected  to  active 
erosion.  The  redness  of  the  strata  and  the  predominance  of  small  pebbles  of  pure 
quartz  in  the  gravel  indicate  that  the  materials  were  derived  from  a  region  that  had 
long  been  subject  to  undisturbed  weathering.  It  is  possible,  too,  that  the  uplift  was 
of  such  a  nature  as  to  cut  off  the  supply  of  moisture  which  had  been  present  during 
the  formation  of  the  coal  and  to  convert  the  country  into  a  desert,  where  the  wind 
produced  large-scale  cross-bedding  of  the  red  sandstone.  There  is  no  positive  evi- 
dence on  the  subject,  and  we  can  merely  raise  the  question  of  the  desert  origin  of 
this  peculiar  deposit.  From  the  time  of  the  cross-bedded  sandstone  to  that  of  the 
limestones  of  the  Cretaceous  there  appears  to  have  been  a  steady  sinking  of  the  land 
or  rising  of  the  sea  until  at  last  the  whole  country  was  inundated.  Through  the 
succeeding  period  to  the  Tertiary  there  is  no  sign  of  climatic  change.  Everything 
points  to  a  steady  warping  and  lifting,  by  which  relief  was  gradually  increased  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  cause  the  deposits  to  change  from  marine  to  subaerial,  and  then 
gradually  to  change  in  texture  from  the  fine  silt  of  playas  to  coarse  conglomerate. 
The  warping  seems  to  have  been  greatest  along  the  borders  of  the  present  basins, 
for  there  we  find  the  strata  of  the  whole  series  considerably  folded,  while  in  the 
centers  of  the  basins  they  are  almost  undisturbed.  The  older  strata,  too,  seem  to 
be  more  bent  than  the  younger,  so  that  the  process  seems  to  have  gone  on  steadily 
almost  from  the  beginning  of  deposition. 


1 66 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


f» 


COMPARISON   WITH   AMERICAN    FORMATIONS. 

Before  leaving  the  Mesozoic-Tertiary  series  there  is  another  phase  of  the  subject 
which  deserves  mention,  because  of  its  bearing  on  the  world-relations  of  the  con- 
tinents. The  existing  physiograjihic  features  of  this  portion  of  Asia  bear,  as  has  been 
suggested,  a  certain  resemblance  to  those  of  the  southwestern  jjorlion  of  the  United 
States,  the  so-called  Rasin  Range  and  Plateau  provinces.  If  the  rock  series  and 
the  geological  events  of  the  one  country  be  compared  with  those  of  the  other  it 
is  .seen  that  while  there  is  considerable  difference  in  details,  there  is  also  a  significant 
resemblance ;  hence  the  fundamental  features  of  the  past,  as  well  as  of  the  present, 
are  similar.  This  is  set  forth  in  Table  II,  where  American  features  which  are  the 
same  as  those  of  Asia  are  marked  "  Do."  It  is  not  meant  to  imply  that  the  two 
series  of  features  were  identical  in  time,  but  merely  in  sequence.  The  similarity 
seems  too  great  to  be  accidental ;  it  may  l)e  that  we  have  here  the  normal  sequence 
for  an  interior  desert  basin.  If  this  is  so  we  ought  to  find  the  same  general  rock 
series  in  other  desert  regions,  such  as  Arabia  and  parts  of  the  Sahara,  where  similar 
conditions  prevail. 


Table  II. — Comparison  table  of  the  Mesozoic-Tertiary  rock  series  and  of  geological 
events  in  the  elevated  arid  regions  of  Asia  and  North  America. 


Asia. 

North  America. 

Roclu. 

Events. 

Rocks. 

Events. 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 
11 

12 

Limestone  and  shale. . 

....Do 

Do. 

Mountain- making  and  prolonged 
erosion. 

Shales    

Estuarine  or  playa  deposition. 

Conglomerale     and 
sandstone. 

Subaerialdeposition.   Land  slowly 
sinking  or  stationary. 

. .    Do     

Do. 

Slight  unconformity. 

Clay  shales  and  coal 
measures. 

Estuarine  or  swamp  conditions  . . 

Blue  mails 

Elstuaiine  conditions. 

Vermilion  sandslone, 
cross- bedded. 

Elevation    and     possibly    desert 
conditions. 

...    Do 

Do. 

Limestone  and  gyp- 
sum. 

Depression  and  return  to  moraine 
conditions. 

White   cross-bedded 
sandstone. 

More  rigorous  desert  conditions. 

Marl  and  limestone-  ■ 

Unstable  marine  conditions 

Cretaceous  coal  meas- 
ures. 

Estuarine  or  swamp  conditions. 

Oyster  limestone 

....Do 

Do. 

Red  and  pink  beds  ■  ■ . 

EUevation  and  eventually  a  gradual 
return  to  subaerial  conditions  ot 
depositions 

Do 

Do. 

(Pink  beds.) 

Brown  sandstone  and 
conglomerate. 

Complete    return     to     subaerial 

deposition. 

Do  

Do. 

RECONNAISSANCE    IN    CENTRAL   TURKESTAN.  167 

THE   TERTIARY   PENEPLAIN. 

The  unity  of  Central  Turkestan  is  shown  not  only  in  the  wide  extent  of  the 
various  members  of  the  rock  series,  but  also  in  the  extensive  peneplain  which 
truncates  them.  In  all  parts  of  the  region  there  are  numerous  places  where  the 
surface  of  interstream  areas  presents  a  smooth,  gentle  slope  quite  out  of  hannony 
with  the  tilted  strata  which  it  truncates  evenly  without  regard  to  whether  they  are 
hard  or  soft,  and  with  the  steep-sided  \'alle)-s  that  are  being  cut  in  it.  These  areas 
are  therefore  regarded  as  uplifted  and  more  or  less  dissected  parts  of  a  fonnerly 
low-lying  j^eneplain  of  erosion.  In  the  southern  part  of  the  Tian  Shan  plateau, 
for  example,  the  large  plateau  basin  containing  Chadir  Kul  and  the  Ak  Sai  River 
and  lying  at  a  height  of  from  10,000  to  1 1,000  feet  above  the  sea  is  bounded  on  the 
south  by  a  broad  ridge  or  swell  rising  to  a  height  of  from  13,000  to  14,000  feet.  On 
the  southern  slope  of  the  ridge  there  is  a  descent  of  9,000  feet  to  the  plain  of  the 
Kashgar  basin  in  a  distance  of  from  70  to  15  miles — that  is,  a  descent  of  from  120 
to  600  feet  per  mile.  This  descent  is  sufficient  to  cause  active  erosion,  which  in 
due  time  will  produce  the  most  irregular  topography  with  a  ma.xinuun  of  relief; 
but  the  valleys  of  the  south  slope  are  not  }et  profound  and  the  interstream  areas, 
though  very  rugged,  rise  everywhere  to  the  height  of  a  nearly  smooth  imaginaiv' 
surface  ascending  from  the  Kashgar  basin  to  the  broad  ridge  which  incloses  it  on 
the  north.  This  surface  is  evident  in  the  hard  Paleozoic  formations  and  can  be 
detected  even  in  the  soft  Tertiaries.  A  broad  ridge  with  such  a  slope  descending 
from  it  must  soon  become  very  rugged  by  reason  of  the  headward  erosion  of  the 
streams ;  but  here,  especially  in  the  eastern  portion,  the  southern  ridge  of  Tian 
Shan  is  still  quite  smooth  and  level,  and  its  surface  is  indifferent  to  rock  structure ; 
hence  its  elevation  from  the  condition  of  a  low-lying  peneplain  must  be  com- 
paratively recent.  A  smooth  plain  (plateau)  of  large  extent  stretches  northward 
from  the  ridge,  sloping  at  an  average  rate  of  about  100  feet  per  mile  toward  the 
Ak  Sai  basin  and  tnmcating  the  almost  vertical  slates  and  limestones  of  Paleozoic 
age  (see  fig.  124,  p.  172,  southern  end).  Not  far  to  the  west,  in  the  district  southeast 
of  Chadir  Kul,  there  are  a  number  of  eas)-  passes  across  the  same  ridge,  which 
there  forms  the  Chinese  boundar)-.  Two  of  these  passes,  Kara  Kennak  and  Kuzzil 
Kur,  are  in  the  soft  upper  members  of  the  Tertiary  series,  although  at  an  ele\ation 
of  over  12,000  feet. 

It  is  evident  that  the  smooth  imaginary'  surface  to  which  the  tops  of  the  hills 
rise  on  the  southern  slope  of  the  Tian  Shan,  above  described,  and  its  more  actual 
continuation  in  the  plateau,  which  tnmcates  the  Paleozoic  .strata  farther  north, 
could  not  have  been  fonned  by  an)^  known  process  under  the  present  conditions  of 
altitude  and  drainage ;  nor  could  the  weak  Tertian,-  strata  of  the  passes  farther  west 
have  been  long  preserved  in  their  present  fonn  at  the  elevation  at  which  they  now  lie. 
In  order  to  reduce  the  deformed  strata  to  .so  smooth  a  surface  the  Tian  Shan  region 
must  have  stood  many  thousand  feet  lower  than  now,  until  it  reached  a  late  mature 
or  oldish  stage  of  erosion,  deser\'ing  to  be  called  a  peneplain,  over  large  areas.  The 
present  altitude  of  the  region  nuist  be  due  to  uplift  and  warping  of  the  peneplain 


l68  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

and  its  residual  mouulaiiis,  and  in  order  that  the  weak  Tertiary  strata  should  still 
exist  in  the  warped  and  uplifted  plains,  its  deformation  nuist  have  been  compara- 
tively recent. 

Numerous  other  examples  of  this  kind  might  be  cited,  but  one  will  suffice. 
At  Giilcha,  about  30  miles  southeast  of  Osli,  on  the  border  between  the  Fergana 
basin  on  the  north  and  the  Alai  Mountains  on  the  south,  the  Gulcha  River  flows 
in  a  valley  2,000  feet  deep.  Between  this  valley  and  the  next  there  is  an  upland 
which  in  a  general  view  appears  to  slope  smoothly  and  gently  to  the  north,  although 
it  is  somewhat  notched  here  and  there.  The  surface  of  the  upland  truncates 
inclined  strata  which  vary  in  hardness  from  the  resistant  oyster-bearing  limestone 
to  the  soft,  shaly  sandstones  of  the  Tertiar)-.  It  is  still  well  preserved,  in  .spite  of 
the  fact  that  there  is  in  some  places  a  descent  of  2,000  feet  in  3  miles.  The  sloping 
upland  plain  nuist  have  been  formed  as  a  peneplain,  and  must  have  been  given  its 
present  inclination  at  a  somewhat  recent  date.  In  the  western  part  of  the  Tian 
Shan  range,  where  the  plateau  character  is  less  marked,  and  in  the  main  range  of 
the  Alai  Mountains,  the  old  peneplain  is  shown  chiefly  in  the  level  crests  of  the 
ridges.  Kven  in  the  lofty  Pamir  there  are  certain  ranges  where  the  snowy  peaks 
are  smoothly  truncated,  as  though  by  the  old  peneplain,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
they  are  from  15,000  to  20,000  feet  high.  The  fragments  of  old  surfaces  are  indeed 
so  numerous  that  it  seems  safe  to  conclude  that  much  of  the  country  was  once 
reduced  to  a  peneplain,  and  the  rest  of  it  at  least  to  the  stage  of  late  maturity- 
The  extent  of  this  degraded  region  was  fully  100,000  square  miles — that  is,  at  least 
400  miles  east  and  west  and  250  miles  north  and  south,  and  probably  much  more. 
Although  the  age  of  the  peneplain  is  not  closely  fixed  by  the  evidence  of  fossils,  it 
may  be  referred  to  the  end  of  the  Tertiary,  because  its  erosion  was  completed  after 
practically  the  whole  Tertiary  series  of  the  region  had  been  laid  down  and  warped. 
For  the  present  we  shall  consider  that  the  erosion  of  the  peneplain  marks  the  close 
of  the  Tertiary  era  and  that  the  Quaternaiy  is  introduced  by  the  succeeding  changes 
of  elevation. 


RECONNAISSANCE    IN    CENTRAL    TURKESTAN.  169 

THE  QUATERNARY  UPLIFT. 

The  first  process  which  belongs  to  recent  or  Quaternary  geological  historj- 
was  a  vast  uplifting  of  the  Tertiary  peneplain,  the  area  of  the  uplift  probably 
extending  considerably  outside  the  limits  of  the  region  which  we  are  now  studying. 
Coupled  with  the  uplifting  of  the  peneplain  as  a  whole,  there  was  a  warping  by 
which  it  was  deformed  into  basins,  large  and  small,  with  intervening  swells  or 
ridges.  As  far  as  was  observed,  this  warping  does  not  seem  to  have  initiated 
new  lines  of  stress,  but  to  have  confirmed  old  ones  of  Tertiary  age.  In  the  old 
movements  faulting  took  place  abimdantly ;  in  the  new  movements  warping  was 
the  nde  and  faulting  took  place  rarely.  The  Quaternary-  basins  seem  to  be  revivals  of 
fonner  basins,  first  formed  early  enough  to  receive  Tertiary  deposits,  for  the  Tertiarj- 
strata  usually  appear  to  have  been  deposited  in  basins  similar  to  those  which  they 
now  occupy,  but  less  deep;  that  is,  the  strata  are  thickest  in  the  center  and  grow 
thinner  toward  the  edges,  where  also  they  are  more  warped,  as  though  the  edges  of 
the  basins  had  been  gradually  raised  out  of  the  area  of  deposition.  The  scale  of  the 
Quaternary  warping  was  large,  for  some  of  the  ridges,  such  as  the  main  crests  of  the 
Tian  Shan  plateau  and  of  the  Alai  range,  were  raised  over  10,000  feet  above  the 
bottoms  of  the  neighboring  basins.  The  Qtiaternar)'  uplift  gave  to  the  country  the 
general  form  which  it  now  possesses  and  divided  it  into  portions  which  have  distinct 
characteristics  and  may  therefore  be  treated  as  natural  physiographic  provinces. 

Consequent  Drainage. — Before  discussing  the  provinces  separatel)',  a  few  words 
should  be  said  about  the  drainage  and  the  evidence  which  it  gives  regarding  the 
condition  of  the  land  previous  to  the  Quaternar}-  uplift.  Throughout  Central 
Turkestan  the  drainage  is  almost  iniiversally  consequent  upon  the  Quaternary- 
warping,  although  in  some  places  where  the  strata  are  soft  the  beginnings  of  a 
subsequent  drainage  are  seen  in  process  of  development.  The  main  streams  follow- 
the  axes  of  the  basins  parallel  to  the  general  strike  and  lea\'e  the  basins  through 
gorges  which  seem  to  be  located  where  the  rims  of  the  basins  sag.  Most  of  the 
basins  contain  Mesozoic  and  Tertiary-  strata,  and  the  main  streams  usually  tra\-erse 
these  weaker  formations,  so  that  from  a  mere  inspection  of  a  geological  map  they 
might  seem  to  be  subsequent.  It  is  in  the  tributaries  that  the  true  consequent 
character  is  seen,  for  they  flow  down  the  slope  of  the  warped  peneplain  surface  and 
across  the  strike  of  both  hard  and  soft  strata.  In  the  old  age  of  the  country  previous 
to  the  Quaternary'  revival  the  main  streams  probably  followed  somewhat  the  present 
lines ;  for  most  of  the  basins,  as  has  already  been  said,  had  been  fonned  earlier  by  the 
down-faulting  or  folding  of  blocks  of  Mesozoic  and  Tertiary  strata  during  the  pre- 
vious times  of  deformation,  and  at  late  maturity  many  streams  must  of  course  have 
searched  out  the  softest  formations.  The  altitude  of  the  peneplain  may  then  have 
amounted  to  thousands  of  feet  because  of  its  greatest  distance  from  the  ocean,  but 
it  must  have  been  far  lower  than  now.  The  hard  rocks,  the  granite  and  the  Paleozoic 
limestones,  fonned  the  uplands  as  they  had  done  for  ages  and  as  they  do  to-day.  At 
present  there  seems  to  be  no  sign  of  an  old  subsequent  drainage  in  these  uplands,  a 
fact  which  indicates  that  the  country-  was  so  far  reduced  to  a  peneplain  that  the 
streams  paid  little  or  no  attention  to  structure. 


I-O  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

LONG   CONTINUANCE   OK   PROCESSES   OF    DEPOSITION    AND   UPLIFT. 

In  the  precediii.a;'  sections  the  varioiis  rock  formations  and  the  Tertiar>'  peneplain 
have  been  spoken  of  as  though  each  of  them  represented  a  definite  space  of  time 
rather  than  a  stage  of  development.  That  the  latter  is  the  truer  view  is  well 
shown  by  the  phenomena  along  the  borders  of  the  Kashgar  basin.  South  of  the 
village  of  Artush,  about  12  miles  northeast  of  Kashgar,  the  Quaternary  plain  is 
broken  by  a  ridge  of  interstratified  silt  and  gravel  which  runs  nearly  east  and  west 
and  rises  200  or  300  feet.  It  is  an  anticline  so  recently  uplifted  that  its  original 
form  remains  almost  unchanged,  although  the  material  is  soft  and  unlithified.  The 
dip  is  gentle,  about  6°  on  the  north  side  and  less  on  the  south.  The  greater  part 
of  the  strata  which  compose  the  anticline  consists  of  buff  silt,  which  is  like  loess 
in  color  and  te-xture,  although  some  portions  at  least  are  more  clayey.  It  is 
apparently  the  same  material  as  that  which  is  now  being  deposited  in  the  plaj-as  of 
the  surrounding  plain.  Interstratified  with  the  silt  are  layers  of  stream  gravel, 
showing  old  channels  with  cross-bedding  and  lateral  unconfonnities.  The  top  of 
the  ridge  is  covered  with  gravel  from  5  to  20  feet  thick.  West  of  Kashgar  the  silt 
continues,  although  with  less  of  the  character  of  loess.  The  vallej'  followed  by  the 
caravan  road  to  Osh  leaves  the  plain  through  some  low  hills  which  seem  to  be  a 
continuation  of  those  already  described  near  Artush.  The)-  consist  of  the  same  silts 
and  graN'els,  which  dip  greath-  toward  the  plain  and  are  well  exposed  in  the  steep 
sides  of  the  valley.  At  the  top  lie  several  hundred  feet  of  grave],  then  come  numerous 
alternations  of  gravel  and  silt,  \\ith  a  gradual  increase  in  the  thickness  of  the  finer 
material,  and  at  last  ver}-  thick  yellow  silts.  The  upper  part  of  the  latter  are  full  of 
lenticular  stream-channels,  which  grow  broader  and  less  numerous  lower  down. 
Although  all  the  strata  are  verj*  soft,  they  correspond  in  position  to  the  fonnations 
whicli  have  been  described  above  as  the  brown  conglomerate  and  brown  sandstone  of 
the  upper  Tertiaiy,  and  by  the  rules  of  ordinary  stratigraphy  would  be  reckoned  as  of 
the  same  age.  That  they  are  younger  is  shown  by  their  less  degree  of  consolidation 
and  by  the  fact  that  they  can  hardly  be  distinguished  from  the  strata  now  in  process 
of  formation.  Their  folds,  too,  are  younger  than  those  of  the  sandstones,  for  although 
they  rise  above  the  level  of  the  old  peneplain,  they  are  not  beveled  by  it.  Apparently, 
the  Kashgar  basin  has  long  been  growing  smaller  by  a  process  of  continuous  folding 
along  the  edges,  and  as  it  has  grown  smaller  the  locus  of  deposition  of  the  gravels 
which  accumulate  along  its  edges  has  gradually  been  pushed  iu\\-ard. 

To  make  this  more  concrete,  let  us  take  the  cross-section  at  Sugun  Karaul,  west 
of  Shor  Kul  (fig.  124).  In  the  Tian  Shan  plateau,  10  or  15  miles  from  the  edge 
of  the  Quaternary  plain  of  the  Kashgar  basin,  the  conglomerate  at  the  top  of  the 
Tertiary-  is  highly  folded  and  ver>-  hard,  but  as  the  same  stratum  is  traced  southward 
and  westward  it  becomes  softer  and  less  folded,  until  finally  it  seems  to  run  into  the 
soft  gravel  of  verj'  recent  date  which  has  been  described  in  the  preceding  paragraph. 
Moreover,  the  old  resistant  conglomerate  of  the  Tian  Shan  region  has  been  smoothl\- 
baseleveled  since  its  severe  folding  was  completed,  while  the  gentle  folds  of  the  soft 
young  gravel  have  only  been  dissected  by  narrow  valleys  which  have  not  yet  pro- 
duced a  maximum  of  relief     This  seems  to  mean  that  somewhere  in  Tertiarj'  time 


RECONNAISSANCE    IN    CENTRAL   TURKESTAN.  I7I 

the  border  of  the  Kashgar  basin  was  15  or  20  miles  north  of  its  present  location,  and 
was  a  place  of  heavy  gravel  deposition.  Then  a  small  fold  de\-eloped  along  the 
border,  lifting  up  part  of  the  gravels  and  causing  the  accelerated  streams  to  deposit 
their  load  of  pebbles  farther  toward  the  center  of  the  basin,  where  playas  had  formerly 
deposited  silt.  Later  another  fold  was  developed  and  the  gravels  once  more  ad\-anced, 
and  so  on  by  steps  which  were  perhaps  too  slow  to  be  noticed.  The  older  gravels 
were  compressed  and  hardened  into  conglomerates  and  their  upper  portions  were 
woni  down  to  the  smooth  grade  of  the  Tertiary  peneplain.  A  similar  experience 
befell  all  the  underlying  fonnations.  Each  of  them,  and  the  peneplain  as  well, 
represents  not  a  certain  time,  but  a  stage  in  development,  and  some  of  the  stages 
are  not  yet  completed. 

PHYSIOGR.\PHIC   PROVINCES. 

THE  TIAN   SHAN   PLATEAD. 

The  part  of  Central  Turkestan  traversed  by  the  writer  divides  itself  naturally 
into  four  provinces — namely,  the  Tian  Shan  plateau,  the  Alai  Mountains,  the 
Kashgar  basin,  and  the  Fergana  basin.  The  first  of  these  is  generalh-  tenned  the 
Tian  Shan  ^Mountains,  but  as  far  as  the  province  was  seen,  it  is  not  strictly  a 
mountain  range  according  to  a  scientific  definition,  nor  is  it  strictly  a  plateau.  It  is 
a  region  of  mountainous  structure,  and  once  of  truly  mountainous  form,  but  it 
long  ago  reached  old  age,  and  has  since  been  uplifted  to  its  present  height  with 
relati\-ely  little  renewed  folding  of  the  strata.  In  structure  it  is  still  mountainous, 
but  its  present  form  and  altitude  are  due  to  an  uplift  of  the  unifonn  kind  which 
is  usually  associated  with  the  formation  of  plateaus.  To-day  it  may  best  be 
described  as  a  plateau;  to-morrow,  geologically  speaking,  when  all  the  remnants 
of  the  uplifted  peneplain  surface  and  the  last  of  the  post-Paleozoic  strata  have 
been  removed  and  dissection  has  gone  far  enough  to  produce  strong  relief,  it  will 
again  become  a  typical  mountain  region  of  highly  folded  limestones.  The  general 
structure  is  shown  in  the  accompanying  section  (fig.  124),  which  is  about  200  miles 
long  and  extends  south-southwest  from  the  mouth  of  the  Juuka  Su,  25  miles 
west  of  the  east  end  of  Issik  Kul,  to  the  Kashgar  desert  at  Sugun,  30  miles  west  of 
Shor  Kul.  The  section  represents  the  general  character  of  the  plateau  in  its  least 
dissected  portion.  Farther  east  and  farther  west  the  surface  is  more  deeply  trenched 
by  the  main  streams.  Along  the  section  the  profile  is  essentially  a  ver\-  broad  anti- 
cline of  the  Uinta  type,  as  defined  by  Powell,  where  the  sides  are  monoclines  and  the 
top  is  flat.  The  fact  that  the  component  strata  were  already  highly  folded  does  not 
alter  the  character  of  the  last  uplift,  although  it  makes  it  less  evident  in  the  cross- 
section.  If  the  line  representing  the  surface  is  looked  at  alone,  the  true  nature  of 
the  deformation  is  evident.  The  anticline  is  not  strictly  flat  on  top,  but  undulating. 
The  troughs  form  broad  basins  at  an  altitude  of  from  10,000  to  12,000  feet,  while  the 
crests  fonn  broad  ridges  which  reach  a  height  of  from  13,000  to  15,000  feet. 

On  the  steep  northern  slope  of  the  broad  anticline  the  valleys  are  fairh-  open 
at  the  base  where  the>-  reach  the  Tertian-  strata  of  the  Issik  Kul  basin,  but  the\- 
are  for  the  most  part  narrow    canyons  with   inaccessible   walls  of   naked    rocks 


172 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


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bounding  a  flood-plain  so  narrow  that  in  the  valley  bottom  a  road  with  difficult}- 
finds  a  place  among  the  cedars  and  mnst  often  cross  the  cascading  brook  or  even 
climb  out  of  the  valley.  Between  these  young  valleys  the  graded  northern  slopes 
of  the  broad  anticline  are  covered  with  cedars,  which  form  the 
only  forest  seen  during  the  whole  journey.  Far  up  the  stream, 
where  glaciers  have  been  at  work,  the  valleys  widen  and  are 
better  graded,  and  at  the  same  time  the  interstream  areas  become 
rougher,  although  they  still  contrast  strongly  with  the  valleys. 
The  }outh  of  the  latter  is  shown  not  only  by  the  steepness  of 
the  walls,  but  by  the  relatively  moderate  depth,  i,ooo  or  2,000 
feet,  which  seems  to  be  the  most  that  they  have  as  yet  attained 
beneath  the  interstream  highlands,  although  the  streams  descend 
very  rapidly  and  are  cutting  actively.  Another  evidence  of  youth 
is  seen  in  a  nonnal  hanging  valley  from  which  a  small  side  stream 
cascades  40  or  50  feet  directly  into  the  Jukiichak  Su,  whose 
narrow  valley  here  has  no  flood-plain  whatever. 

The  broad  ridge  which  lies  along  the  northern  border  of  the 
Tian  Shan  plateau  is  always  covered  with  snow,  and  most  of  its 
passes  are  occupied  by  glaciers.  A  few  of  the  summits  have 
been  sharpened  into  peaks  by  glacial  action — after  the  fashion 
described  for  Alpine  peaks  by  Richter — and  are  worth  seeing  as 
attractive  examples  of  Alpine  scenery,  but  most  of  them  are 
mere  remnants  of  the  old  peneplain,  separated  by  broad,  but  not 
very  deep,  valleys  of  glacial  origin.  The  uniformity  of  summit 
height  is  illustrated  by  the  excellent  topographical  map  con- 
structed by  tlie  Russian  general  staff"  on  a  scale  of  2  versts 
(iy2  miles)  to  the  inch.  Out  of  43  summits,  of  which  the 
elevation  was  given  on  three  contiguous  sheets  at  the  eastern 
end  of  Lssik  Kul,  32  reached  an  elevation  of  from  13,000  to 
14,000  feet,  and  the  highest  reached  15,069  feet. 

As  soon  as  the  broad  ridge  of  the  northern  border  is  crossed 
the  country  assumes  an  aspect  which  fully  justifies  the  tenn 
"  plateau."  At  Jukuchak  pass,  for  instance,  the  narrow  young 
valley  which  one  ascends  in  traveling  southward  from  lssik 
Kul  is  exchanged  for  a  broad,  open,  elevated  plain,  bounded 
on  all  sides  by  snowy  mountains,  whose  slight  dis.section 
causes  them  to  suggest  a  block  of  marble  on  which  the  sculptor 
has  rudely  outlined  a  form  but  on  which  he  has  as  yet  carved  few 
details  (see  fig.  1 25).  The  treeless  plain  with  its  cover  of  brown 
or  green  grass  has  the  thoroughly  graded  aspect  and  subdued 
slope  of  a  region  in  late  maturity  ;  and  such  it  is  in  spite  of  its 
elevation  and  potential  youth.  So  far  as  erosion  is  concerned 
it  only  waits  for  some  stream  to  cut  headward  through  the  sur- 
rounding ridges  to  cause  it  to  enter  upon  a  new  cycle  at  the 
very  beginning  of  youth.     The  Yak  Tash  basin,  southwest  of 


3 


3-  C_ 

015. 
5^ 


5i'/sff 


RECONNAISSANCE    IN    CENTRAL   TURKESTAN. 


173 


the  Jukuchak  pass,  is  full  of  old  moraines  spread  in  a  broad,  uneven  sheet  and  inclos- 
ing numerous  lifeless  ponds  and  lakes.  In  other  basins  the  moraines  have  not 
advanced  so  far  and  the  streams  have  cut  slight  terraces  in  the  gravel  silt  or  the  Ter- 
tiary strata  which  lie  on  the  floor  of  the  depressions  and  fonn  the  plains.  Such  in 
general  are  the  basins  and  ridges  of  the  most  typical  portion  of  the  Tian  Shan  plateau. 
In  the  very  center  of  the  plateau  is  a  valley  of  erosion  of  quite  a  different  char- 
acter. South  of  Chakur  Korum  pass  the  Kara  Kul  River,  one  of  the  main  branches 
of  the  Narin,  flows  in  a  young  valley  1,000  or  2,000  feet  deep,  with  a  narrow 
bottom  and  steep  walls  like  those  which  characterize  the  valleys  on  the  north  .slope 
of  the  plateau.  The  road  descends  from  the  pass  to  the  river  by  a  narrow  side 
valley  with  walls  a  thousand  or  more  feet  high,  and  in  some  places  perpendicular 


Fig.  125. — Scene  in  the  Yak  Tash  Basin,  in  the  northern  part  of  the  Tian  Shan  plateau,  looking 
northwest.  In  the  foreground  the  basin-floor  is  covered  with  a  flat  moraine  holding  numerous 
ponds  :  beyond  are  smooth-topped  mountains  cut  by  glacial  valleys. 

for  several  himdred  feet.  Near  its  mouth,  where  the  flood-plain  widens  a  little,  the 
valley  is  suddenly  blocked  by  a  barrier  nearly  200  feet  high,  lying  directly  across 
the  path  of  the  stream.  This  barrier  is  the  moraine  of  a  little  glacier  tenninating 
far  up  on  the  precipitous  side  of  the  valley.  The  moraine  is  so  porous  that  the  stream 
flows  directly  through  it  with  no  apparent  check,  although  the  gra\-el  flood-plain 
above  the  barrier  is  broader  than  below. 

Among  the  elevated  basins  of  the  Tian  Shan  plateau  one  of  the  largest  is 
that  of  the  Mudirum  Su.  Its  upper  portion  is  a  desert  of  old  morainic  waste 
unrelieved  by  vegetation ;  the  lower  portion  is  also  full  of  moraines,  but  they  are 


174  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

well  covered  with  grass  and  by  contrast  seem  fertile.  The  niountaiiis  on  the 
southern  border  of  the  basin  reach  a  height  of  from  15,000  to  17,000  feet  and  have 
been  carved  into  truly  Alpine  forms  by  numerous  large  glaciers.  Another  basin  is 
that  of  the  Ak  Sai  and  Chadir  Kul  (Tent  Lake),  where  glaciation  has  played  a  rela- 
tively small  part.  The  ridge  south  of  this  basin  forms  the  Chinese  border  and 
has  already  been  described.  The  valleys  descending  thence  to  the  Kashgar  basin 
are  of  the  .same  nature  as  those  on  the  north  slope  of  the  plateau  toward  Issik  Kul. 
They  are  cut  in  somewhat  softer  strata,  however,  and  hence  are  wider,  and  for  the 
same  reason  the  interstreani  areas  are  more  dissected  into  sharp  hills.  Vegetation 
is  almost  absent  because  of  the  dryness  of  the  climate,  and  the  older  contorted 
limestones  and  slates  stand  naked  in  black  and  gray,  while  the  later  strata  are  bright 
with  red,  pink,  and  green. 

Chadir  Kul. — The  lake  of  Chadir  Kul,  at  the  head  of  the  Ak  Sai  l)asin,  near  the 
southern  side  of  the  Tian  Shan  plateau,  is  a  small  sheet  of  water  about  16  miles  long 
by  6  wide.  It  is  in  the  midst  of  a  barren,  mountain-girt  plain,  and  does  not  over- 
flow, in  spite  of  the  snowy  heights  that  surround  it  and  of  a  drainage  area  which, 
according  to  the  Russian  maps,  is  five  times  as  large  as  the  lake  itself  This  has  not 
always  been  the  case,  however.  The  plain  of  Chadir  Kul  is  composed  largely  of  fine 
silt  which  could  hardly  have  been  deposited  by  aggrading  streams  so  near  their  moun- 
tainous headwater  area,  but  which  might  easily  have  been  deposited  in  a  lake.  In 
one  place  a  cut  some  15  feet  deep  along  the  side  of  a  brook  discloses  iine  silt  full  of 
sphagnum,  on  which  rests  a  little  gravel.  The  lake  formerly  had  an  outlet  at  the 
head  of  the  Ak  Sai  basin,  where  the  plain  contracts  to  a  distinct  channel  about  a 
third  of  a  mile  wide,  bounded  on  either  side  by  a  terrace  40  or  50  feet  high.  Across 
the  mouth  of  this  outlet  lies  a  little  ridge  of  sand  and  gravel  10  or  15  feet  high, 
apparently  an  abandoned  and  dissected  beach.  It  does  not  e.xteird  quite  to  the 
northern  terrace,  being  separated  from  it  by  an  open  gap  of  200  or  300  feet.  Appar- 
ently the  outlet  was  first  stable  long  enough  to  allow  the  cutting  of  the  broad 
valley  and  the  terraces  on  either  side.  Then  a  change  of  some  sort  caused  the 
building  of  a  beach  and  the  partial  closing  of  the  otitlet,  through  which,  however,  a 
stream  still  ran  for  a  time  before  another  change  caused  the  lake  to  retire  to  its  pres- 
ent level.  Around  Chadir  Kul  itself  nothing  was  seen  to  show  what  these  changes 
were  and  why  they  occurred.  From  the  evidence  of  other  places,  which  will  be 
discussed  later,  the  changes  seem  referable  to  alternate  expansions  and  contrac- 
tions of  the  lake  under  the  influence  of  glacial  epochs  and  inter-glacial  epochs. 
The  outlet  of  the  lake  is  later  than  at  least  one  epoch  of  glacial  action,  for  while 
the  terrace  on  the  south  side  of  the  broad  channel  is  composed  of  ordinary  gravel, 
the  other  terrace  consists  partly  of  moraine  stuff  full  of  bowlders  of  schistose  slate 
ranging  up  to  3  or  4  feet  in  diameter.  This  must  have  come  from  the  valleys  just 
to  the  north,  where  there  are  other  moraines,  and  it  ma>-  have  blocked  the  outlet 
and  caused  the  lake  to  expand.  The  lake  as  a  whole,  however,  seems  to  be  due  to 
a  slight  swell  or  bulge  in  the  basin  floor  between  the  Ak  Sai  basin  and  its  contin- 
uation in  that  of  Chadir  Kul. 


RECONNAISSANCE    IN    CENTRAL   TURKESTAN. 


175 


TBB   KASBGAR  BASIN. 

South  of  the  Tian  Shan  plateau,  the  second  province,  the  Kashgar  basin  fonns 
the  western  part  of  the  vast  inner  basin  of  Asia,  known  as  the  Takla-Makan  and 
the  desert  of  Gobi.  Its  flat,  barren  surface  lies  at  ,an  elevation  of  from  3,000  to 
4,000  feet  above  the  sea  and  is  ever^'where  surrounded  by  lofty  mountains.  Those 
on  the  north  and  west  rise  from  10,000  to  15,000  feet  above  it,  while  to  the  south- 
west and  south,  in  the  Pamir  and  Kuen  Lun,  the  heights  are  even  greater. 
Muz-tagh-ata,  one  of  the  world's  highest  mountain  peaks,  is  plainly  in  sight  from 


Fig.  126. — View  of  the  Tertiary  strata  on  the  edge  of  the  Kashgar  Basin  west  of  Kashgar  City.  The 
layers  here  dip  northwest  away  from  the  basin,  which  hes  behind  the  observer.  On  the  left  several 
portions  of  an  old  grade  plain  probably  represent  the  work  of  an  early  glacial  epoch. 


Kashgar,  towering  above  clouds  to  the  tremendous  altitude  of  25,800  feet  In  few 
other  parts  of  the  world  can  so  great  a  contrast  of  relief  be  seen  at  a  single  glance,  for 
the  parched  plain  in  the  foreground  lies  21,500  feet  below  the  snowy  mountain  peak. 
The  lower  part  of  the  slope  from  the  mountains  to  the  plain,  where  I  saw  it  on 
the  north  and  west  sides  of  the  basin,  consists  of  the  upj^er  Tertian,-  fonnations 
(see  fig.  126),  while  farther  back  toward  the  mountains  lies  the  Mesozoic  series.  All 
the  strata  are  deformed,  but  on  the  edges  of  the  plain  the  outward  dips  are 
lessened,  and  the  Tertiaries  assume  the  fonn  of  a  monocline  with  decreasing  dip, 
pitching  gently  under  the  fonnations  which  are  now  accunnilatiug  on  the  plain 
itself.  If  the  dip  keeps  on  decreasing  under  the  basin  floor,  as  seems  probable,  the 
Tertiary  strata  must  soon  become  conformable  with  those  of  the  Quateruan-. 


I  76 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

SUBSIDIARY   BASINS. 


On  the  border  of  the  great  Kashgar  basin  lie  several  small  basins  of  similar 
origin.  Three  of  these  were  seen,  of  ■which  tlie  largest  and  most  important,  that 
of  Shor  Kill,  will  be  treated  at  length  when  we  come  to  the  consideration  of  recent 
climatic  changes.  For  the  present  it  is  enough  to  say  that  Shor  Knl  occupies  an 
inclosed  basin  lying  between  flat-topped  monntains,  foot-hills  of  the  Tian  Shan 
platean.  It  appears  to  ha\-e  been  formed  by  simple  warping  of  the  crnst  without 
faulting,  l)ut  this  can  not  be  stated  definitely,  as  it  was  impossible  to  make  a  com- 
plete circuit  of  the  basin.  The  floor  is  a  marshy  plain,  in  the  center  of  which  is 
the  verj-  shallow  salt  lake.  The  other  two  basins,  those  of  IVIin  Yol  and  Kuzzil  Oi, 
are  traversed  by  the  main  caravan  route  to  Fergana,  and  lie  respectively  30  and  50 


B 

s 

^^^^^^^^^^^T^^^^^S^^f^ 

I^SS"  - ^^^--^Vji'  — 'Je^ 

Fig.  127. —  Fault  scarp  on  the  soulhern  side  of  the  Kuzzil  Oi  Basin,  with  a  smooth  deposit, ot  silt 

lying  in  h'ont  of  it. 

miles  west  by  north  of  Kashgar.  They  are  8  or  10  miles  long  and  are  filled  with  a 
smooth  fluviatile  deposit  sloping  from  north  to  south.  On  the  north  it  interlocks 
with  the  spurs  of  the  mountains  in  normal  fashion,  exhibiting  bays  of  gravel 
alternating  with  promontories  of  rock.  On  the  south,  on  the  contrary-,  the  under- 
lying rock  rises  suddenly  and  steeply  in  a  straight-fronted  ridge  without  spurs  or 
bays  (fig.  127),  through  which  the  outflowing  streams  have  cut  steep-sided  and  nar- 
row gorges.  In  the  case  of  Min  Yol  the  material  that  fills  the  basin  is  apparently 
all  gravel ;  the  ridge  at  the  south,  as  observed  at  a  distance,  seems  to  have  been 
produced  by  folding  rather  than  by  faulting.  The  Kuzzil  Oi  basin,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  filled  in  the  lower  part  with  fine  silt,  level  and  swampy  (fig.  127),  and  the 


RECONNAISSANCE    IX    CENTRAL   TURKESTAN. 


177 


ridge  to  the  south  presents  a  steep  north-facing  fault  scarp  in  the  central  portion, 
although  farther  west  this  merges  into  a  fold. 

A  peculiar  feature  of  these  basins  is  the  drainage,  illustrated  in  fig.  128.  In  the 
main,  the  drainage  of  the  Kashgar  region  is  consequent,  with  the  master  stream 
flowing  eastward  toward  the  center  of  the  Kashgar  basin  and  the  smaller  streams 
flowing  at  right  angles  to  it ;  but  along  the  line  of  the  smaller  basins  this  simple 
arrangement  is  interrupted.  A  continuous  valley  runs  parallel  to  the  main  stream 
and  north  of  it,  but  instead  of  being  occupied  by  a  single  stream  it  contains  three, 
A,  C,  and  D,  and  a  fourth,  B,  taking  its  rise  in  the  western  basin,  flows  across  it. 
The  latter  stream  is  easily  explained.  The  tine  silts  of  Kuzzil  Oi  indicate  that  the 
up-faulting  of  the  barrier  on  the  south  proceeded  rapidly  enough  to  convert  the  basin 
into  a  lake.  This  was  drained  by  the  short  stream  B,  which  has  only  had  time  to 
cut  a  very  narrow  gorge  through  the  uplifted  mass,  even  though  it  is  composed  of 


Fig.  128. — Drainage  of  the  Kuzzil  Oi  and  Min  Yol  basins. 

the  softest  of  strata.  The  further  study  of  these  basins  and  their  drainage,  together 
with  the  verj'  complete  geological  section  exposed  near  by  and  the  coal  mines  worked 
b\-  the  Chinese  at  Kan  Su,  offers  an  interesting  field  of  work. 

The  main  portion  of  the  Kashgar  basin,  as  is  well  known,  is  a  smooth  desert 
plain.  On  the  edges  broad  slopes  of  gravel  are  soon  left  behind,  and  the  floor  of 
the  basin  stretches  sea-like  to  the  triie  horizon.  It  is  composed  of  horizontally 
stratified  sand  and  silt,  entirely  free  from  gravel.  The  surface  is  often  an  immense 
playa,  devoid  of  vegetation  and  covered  witii  a  deposit  of  alkali  like  new-fallen 
snow.  In  some  districts  the  surface  is  thickly  strewn  with  dunes,  each  topped 
with  small  green  shrubs  a  foot  or  two  high.  The  latter  seem  to  be  the  cause  of  the 
gathering  of  tlie  silty  .sand  into  the  dunes,  for  where  the  shnibs  are  dead  the  dunes 
are  being  destroyed,  and  dunes  were  seen  without  shrubs,  either  living  or  dead. 
Elsewhere  the  plain  of  the  basin  floor  is  less  desert  and  is  covered  with  a  low 
growth  of  weeds,  bushy  and  tough,  from  6  to  24  inches  high.  The  central  part 
of  the  basin,  the  real  sand  desert,  lay  south  of  my  line  of  travel.  In  the  peripheral 
region  the  nniddy  streams  are  incised  from  10  to  20  feet  between  slightly  terraced 
walls,  although  all  but  the  largest  soon  leave  their  valleys  and  spread  out  in  playas. 


178  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

LOESS. 

The  plavas  of  the  Kashgar  plain  are  connected  with  the  interestinj^  geolojjical 
problem  of  the  origin  of  loess.  The  deposits  of  the  playas  greatly  resemble 
certain  older  dci^osits,  having  all  the  typical  characteristics  of  loess;  and  a  com- 
parison of  the  two  at  once  raises  the  question  whether  loess  may  not  be  in  certain 
cases  an  aqneons  deposit,  formed  on  the  flat  floor  of  basins  or  aggraded  valleys 
where  streams  laden  with  the  very  finest  silt  spread  out  into  thin  ephemeral  sheets. 
In  a  previons  section  mention  was  made  of  an  anticline  of  very  recent  date  lying 
south  of  the  village  of  Artush,  near  Kashgar.  It  was  stated  that  this  anticline  is 
composed  of  gravel  interstratfied  with  a  light  yellow  material,  which  is  there  termed 
silt  becau.se  of  its  relation  to  the  gravel,  but  which  has  all  the  characteristics  of 
loess.  If  it  occurred  without  the  gravel  it  would  at  once  be  pronounced  loess. 
South  of  the  anticline,  near  the  city  of  Kashgar,  the  whole  country-  is  composed 
of  what  looks  like  typical  loess.  It  stands  in  i)eq:)endicular  walls  wherever  it  is 
dissected,  and  deep  trenches  are  worn  in  it  by  the  roads;  everywhere  a  close 
examination  of  the  loess  walls  shows  a  faint  banding ;  slightly  sandy  lasers  and, 
occasionally,  little  lenses  of  fine  gravel  are  found  interbcdded  with  the  silt.  Further 
west  in  similar  deposits  heavy  gravel  overlies  and  is  interstratified  with  layers  pos- 
sessing the  essential  characteristics  of  loess,  although  the}'  can  hardly  be  of  jeolian 
origin.  In  two  other  basins,  those  of  Fergana  and  Issik  Kul,  deposits  of  loess  were 
seen,  which  included  gravel-filled  channels.  These  facts  suggest  that  loess  may  be 
a  playa  formation  and  that  the  Kashgar  basin  may  be  a  place  where  loess  is  still  in 
process  of  deposition. 

THE    ALAI    MOUNTAINS. 

Of  the  two  remaining  physiogra]ihic  pro\-inccs  little  need  be  said,  for  in  essen- 
tial features  they  are  repetitions  of  the  Tian  Shan  plateau  and  the  Kashgar  basin. 
The  Alai  province  includes  not  only  the  Alai  Mountains  proper,  which  run  east 
and  west  between  Fergana  and  the  Pamir,  but  also  the  cross-ridge  which  runs 
northea.st  from  the  Pamir  to  the  Tian  Shan  plateau,  with  some  peaks  rising  to  a 
height  of  18,000  feet.  The  Alai  range  is  a  portion  of  the  old  peneplain  tiplifted 
thousands  of  feet  into  an  arch.  It  is  round  on  top  instead  of  being  somewhat 
corrugated  like  the  Tian  Shan  plateau.  Its  width  is  nuich  less  than  that  of  the 
latter,  and  it  lacks  the  broad  upland  basins  of  warped  peneplain,  which  are  so 
characteristic  of  the  Tian  Shan  plateau.  The  Alai  has,  to  be  sure,  a  series  of  small 
valley  basins  on  the  north  and  the  great  Alai  basin  on  the  south,  but  these  are 
all  chiefly  due  to  modeni  erosion  on  weak  strata  that  were  infolded  before  the 
completion  of  the  Tertiary  peneplain,  (xood  examples  of  the  small  basins  are 
seen  on  the  Terek  Su  at  Guristan,  on  the  Ak  Bura  at  Bopan,  and  on  the  Ispairan 
at  Pum.  All  of  the  basins  appear  to  be  places  where  soft  strata  had  been  faulted 
down  previous  to  the  completion  of  the  Tertiar}-  peneplain ;  hence,  before  the  uplift 
of  the  peneplain,  the  down-faulted  weak  strata  were  inaccessible  to  the  processes  of 
erosion.  Since  the  uplift,  deep  valleys  with  broad  flood-plains  have  been  eroded  in 
the  weak  strata,  and  the  surrounding  country  has  been  reduced  to  the  stage  of 
mature  relief  with   thoroughly  graded  slopes.     In  the  more  resistant   limestone 


RECONNAISSANCE    IN    CENTRAL    TURKESTAN. 


179 


areas  which  constitute  most  of  the  northern  slope  of  the  Alai  range  the  old  pene- 
plain is  often  well  preserv^ed  and  the  valleys  are  ver\'  young  in  aspect  (fig.  129). 
Some  of  the  rivers  flow  in  magnificent  canyons;  that  of  the  Ak  Bura,  which 
reaches  the  plain  at  Osh,  is  1,000  to  2,000  feet  deep,  and  so  narrow  at  the  bottom 
that  the  river  runs  between  walls  of  solid  rock  in  many  places  and  the  trail  has 
to  clamber  on  the  side  walls  on  a  scaffolding  of  logs  filled  with  stones  (fig.  130). 
The  crest  of  the  range  resembles,  the  ridges  of  the  Tian  Shan  plateau.  In  the 
near  view,  where  one  looks  upward  from  a  valley,  the  country  seems  in  the  highest 
degree  rugged  and  deeply  dissected,  but   in   the  large  view  from  a  lofty  or  distant 


Fig.  129. — Gorge  of  the  Ispalran  in  its  lower  portion,  where  it  begins  to  widen  as  it  flows  northward 
(rom  the  Alai  Mountains  to  the  Fergana  Basin.  The  valley  is  filled  with  gravel,  in  which  the 
stream  has  cut  terraces. 

station  it  is  seen  that  the  mountain  crest  is  very  even  and  that  there  are  large  areas 
where  erosion  has  as  yet  accomplished  but  little  in  dissecting  an  old  surface  of 
moderate  relief. 

THE  ALAI  VALBEY. 

South  of  the  Alai  range  lies  the  Alai  Valley,  the  largest  of  the  minor  basins. 
It  seems  to  be  due  in  part  to  the  warping  since  the  time  of  the  peneplain,  but  nnich 
of  its  depth  is  due  to  Quaternary  erosion  working  on  soft  Tertiary  strata  which  had 
previously  been  faulted  down,  as  in  the  case  of  the  smaller  basins.  The  drainage 
is  strictly  consequent  to  all  appearances.     The  master  stream,  the  Kuzzil  Su,*  nms 


♦The  name  Kuzzil  Su  or  Red  River  recurs  continually  in  countries  where  Turkish  languages  are 
spoken.  At  the  moment  of  writing,  I  recall  seven  Kuzzil  Sus  which  I  have  visited  during  the 
journey  described  in  this  paper. 


i8o 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


westward  near  the  uorthern  side  of  a  valley  8  or  lo  miles  wide  and  60  miles  long. 
Like  most  of  the  streams  in  the  valley  basins,  whether  large  or  small,  it  wanders 
freely  over  its  broad  gravel  flood-plain  in  a  score  of  intricately  braided  channels. 
At  the  edge  of  the  flood-plain,  on  either  side,  is  a  terrace  20  or  25  feet  high,  above 
which  are  many  miles  of  gravel  sloping  smoothly  from  tlie  base  of  the  mountains 
to  the  edge  of  the  terrace.  The  broader  slope  is  on  the  south,  where  lie  the  higher 
Trans-Alai  Mountains.     They  form  the  northern  front  of  the  great  Pamir  plateau, 


Fig.  130. — Limestone  Gorge  of  the  Western  Kichik  Alai,  where  it  enters  the  Ispairan 
River  on  the  north  side  of  the  Alai  Mountains.  Probably  the  upper  portion  of  the 
gorge  was  widened  by  a  glacier,  and  the  narrow  slit  at  the  bottom  represents  post- 
glacial cutting.  The  main  valley,  from  the  side  of  which  the  photograph  was 
taken,  is  clearly  of  glacial  origin,  and  the  side  valley  must  have  borne  a  hanging 
relation  lo  that  of  the  master  stream. 

rising  from  15,000  to  23,000  feet  above  the  sea  and  from  9,000  to  14,000  feet  above  the 
valley.  On  the  north  also  the  mountains  are  by  no  means  low,  for  the  snowy  crest 
lies  at  a  height  of  about  14,000  feet,  and  glaciers  are  numerous.  Near  the  western 
end  of  the  valley  basin,  where  it  narrows  before  the  stream  enters  the  fine  gorge 
which  forms  the  boundary^  of  the  khanate  of  Bokhara,  the  water  wells  up  from 
a  subterranean  course  under  the  heavy  gravel  deposits  and  bursts  forth  in  numerous 
great  springs,  crystal  clear,  but  very  dark.     One  of  these  at  Mama  gives  rise  to  a 


RECONNAISSANCE    IN    CENTRAL   TURKESTAN.  l8l 

stream  so  large  that  it  may  be  truly  called  a  river.  Tradition  (the  tradition  found  in 
almost  every  eastern  country)  says  that  this  is  the  outlet  of  the  inclosed  lake  Kara 
Kul,  lying  75  miles  to  the  southeast,  on  the  Pamir,  at  an  elevation  of  12,400  feet. 

The  chief  interest  of  the  Alai  basin  lies  in  its  old  moraines  and  terraces,  which 
will  be  discussed  in  due  season.  Of  the  regions  seen  by  the  writer  in  the  heart  of 
Asia  none  is  more  interesting  than  the  Alai  Valley.  Its  magnificent  scener>'  and 
splendid  climate  on  the  one  hand  are  only  less  excellent  of  their  kind  than  are  the 
opportunities  for  studying  the  epochs  of  the  glacial  period,  tlie  moraines  and  ter- 
races which  bear  witness  to  them,  and  all  the  phenomena  pertaining  to  glaciation, 
past  and  present.  Not  far  to  the  southwest  the  salt  deposits  of  Altyn  Mazar  are 
of  the  first  importance  geologically  and  economically,  and  various  natural  sections 
present  fine  opportunities  for  the  study  of  the  rock  series ;  while  to  the  southeast 
Peak  Kaufmann  rises  23,000  feet,  with  Lake  Kara  Kul  on  the  Pamir  beyond  it. 
Moreover,  the  Alai  Valley  is  inhabited  by  a  peaceable  and  most  interesting  folk,  the 
nomadic  Kirghiz,  with  whom  it  is  well  worth  while  to  become  acquainted.  Besides 
all  this,  the  valley  is  relatively  accessible,  as  it  is  only  three  days'  journe)'  from  the 
railroad  at  Marghilan ;  and,  lastly,  it  is  practically  virgin  ground. 

THE   FERGANA    BASIN. 

In  outward  appearance  the  last  of  the  four  provinces  differs  widely  from  its 
companion,  the  Kashgar  basin  ;  but  the  difference  is  only  superficial,  resulting  from 
its  moister  climate.  The  Fergana  basin  seems  green  and  prosperous ;  its  many 
streams  are  utilized  by  an  irrigation  system  which  sustains  populous  villages  and 
cities.  The  Kashgar  basin  is  chiefly  a  drear}-  desert.  Yet  in  structure  the  two 
basins  are  so  nearly  identical  that  detailed  description  of  the  second  would  in\olve 
repetition  of  much  that  has  been  said  about  the  first.  The  Fergana  basin  is  an 
aggraded  depression,  due  to  local  down-warping  and  burial  of  the  Tertiary  pene- 
plain. The  mountains  inclosing  the  basin  are  uplifted  and  more  or  less  dissected 
portions  of  the  same  peneplain.  As  in  the  Kashgar  basin,  the  warping  by  which 
the  Fergana  basin  was  formed  seems  to  be  a  late  phase  of  long-continued  move- 
ments, during  which  the  mountain  area  has  encroached  upon  the  basin  area;  for 
the  gradually  rising  mountains  around  the  basin  consist  of  granite  and  limestone  in 
their  higher  parts  and  of  weaker  Mesozoic  and  Tertiary  strata  around  the  margin  next 
to  the  basin,  all  these  having  been  folded  and  worn  down  to  moderate  relief  before 
the  present  basin  was  formed.  It  is  therefore  quite  possible  that  the  down-warped 
floor,  on  which  the  Quaternary-  deposits  of  the  Fergana  basin  lie,  was  not  ever}-- 
where  a  peneplain  of  Tertian,-  erosion  ;  its  central  part  may  well  have  been  an 
aggraded  plain  of  Tertiary  deposition. 

The  periphery  of  the  Fergana  basin  is  sheeted  with  gravel  which  grows  grad- 
ually finer  until  it  merges  into  the  fine  alluvium  of  the  central  plain ;  the  area  of  fine 
alluvium  is  much  smaller  than  that  of  Kashgar  and  has  no  pla)-as.  Many  streams 
cross  the  plain,  with  broad  flood-plains  of  gravel  between  low  terraces,  while  here 
and  there  rise  hills  more  or  less  carved  in  masses  of  interstratified  silt  and  gravel 
thrust  up  as  folds  in  recent  geological  time. 


l82  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

THE   QUATERNARY  PERIOD. 

Ill  our  survey  of  Central  Turkestan  we  have  found  tluit  its  geological  history 
was  long  characterized  by  a  remarkable  unit>'.  The  geological  series  is  uniform  in 
the  main,  though  not  in  detail.  Much  of  the  country-  in  late  Tertiary  time  was 
reduced  to  tlie  stage  of  mature  or  old  topography ;  and  now,  after  broad  deforma- 
tion, the  basins  continue  to  be  aggraded  plains,  and  even  the  mountains  retain 
much  of  their  Tertiary  maturity,  although  exhibiting  marked  results  of  revived 
erosion.  When  the  country-  was  divided  into  strongly  marked  provinces  by  the 
Quaternary  defonnatioii,  a  considerable  diversity  was  introduced  between  the 
mountains  or  plateaus  on  the  one  hand  and  the  basins  on  the  other.  Both  the  pre- 
Quaternarv  uiiitv  and  the  Ouaternar)-  diversity  were  due  largely  to  internal  causes — 
to  tectonic  movements  or  to  lack  of  movement.  In  the  remainder  of  this  report 
I  shall  consider  a  series  of  changes  of  a  different  character,  which  seem  to  have 
nothing  to  do  with  movements  of  depression  or  elevation,  but  appear  to  depend 
upon  external  controls.  The  changes  now  considered  were  climatic  and  seem 
to  have  affected  all  parts  of  the  country  at  the  same  time,  although  in  different 
ways.  As  the  changes  continued  to  take  place  through  a  large  part  of  Quaternary 
time,  they  furui.sh  the  basis  for  a  definite  time-scale  of  wide  application.  They 
involve  a  series  of  oscillations  between  glacial  and  interglacial  epochs.  The  plan 
of  study  outlined  by  Professor  Davis  at  the  beginning  of  our  work  in  Turkestan 
directed  attention  to  the  evidence  of  possible  climatic  changes  shown  (i)  in  ancient 
moraines;  (2)  in  terraces,  especially  along  streams  flowing  from  moraines;  (3)  in 
lakes  and  lake  deposits  ;  and  (4)  in  deltas  and  flood  plains  of  streams  which  do  not 
reach  the  sea.  In  examining  evidence  of  the  first  three  classes  it  was  found  not 
onlv  that  climatic  changes  have  occurred,  but  that  there  has  been  a  series  of  changes 
of  decreasing  se\erity ;  it  has,  however,  not  yet  been  possible  to  correlate  exactly 
the  changes  shown  by  one  class  of  evidence  with  those  shown  b}'  another.  In  the 
fourth  class  there  should  also  be  indication  of  climatic  changes  if  the  facts  elsewhere 
olxserved  have  been  rightly  interpreted,  but  as  yet  this  cla.ss  of  evidence  has  not 
been  detected. 

GLACIATION. 

DISTRIBUTION   OF   GLACIERS    AND    AMODNT  OF   EROSION. 

During  the  two  months'  journey  from  Issik  Kul  to  Marghilan  a  considerable 
number  of  glaciers,  possibly  fifty,  were  seen  among  mountains  ranging  from 
14,000  to  18,000  feet  in  height.  Most  of  the  glaciers  were  small  and  ended  close 
to  the  ba.se  of  their  cirques.  The  largest  was  that  of  Khoja  Ishken*  in  the  Alai 
Mountains,  close  to  the  Bokharan  boundar}-,  at  the  head  of  one  of  the  innumerable 
Kok  Sus  or  Blue  rivers.  It  is  a  small  example  of  the  vallej*  type  of  glaciers  com- 
monly associated  with  the  Alps.  Its  length,  so  far  as  can  be  judged  from  very 
incomplete   maps,  is  5  or  6  miles.     None  of  the  glaciers  descend  to  a  low  elevation, 


*0n  the  Russian  map,  scale  10  versts  to  the  inch,  this  is  called  the  Adramova  glacier,  but  as  the 
Kirgphiz  in  the  neighborhood  use  the  name  Khoja  Ishken,  I  have  adopted  the  latter. 


RECONNAISSANCE    IN    CENTRAL   TURKESTAN.  183 

and  in  the  Tian  Shan  Mountains,  where  the  greater  number  were  seen,  the  ice  rarely 
descends  much  below  a  height  of  12,000  feet.  Among  the  Alai  Mountains  the 
Khoja  Ishkeu  glacier  comes  down  to  an  altitude  of  about  11,500  feet,  while  others 
stand  higher ;  and  even  the  largest  of  those  on  the  north  side  of  the  Pamir,  descend- 
ing toward  the  great  Alai  basin,  comes  down  only  to  an  altitude  of  10,500  feet. 

In  former  times,  however,  these  small  glaciers  were  much  expanded,  so  that 
the  Altyn  glacier,  one  of  those  on  the  north  slope  of  the  Pamir,  stretched  out  20 
miles ;  those  of  Yak  Tash  on  the  Tian  Shan  plateau  and  of  Khoja  Ishken  in  the 
Alai  Mountains  both  reached  a  length  of  30  miles;  and  the  Mudirum  glacier  on  the 
Tian  Shan  plateau  must  have  been  nearly  50  miles  long  at  the  time  of  its  greatest 
extent.  All  these  Quaternary  glaciers  were  small  compared  with  those  of  similar 
mountains  in  Europe  and  America.  The  lowest  of  them  in  the  steepest  valleys  was 
not  able  to  descend  to  an  elevation  below  7,500  feet.  The  large  ones  on  the  Tian 
Shan  plateau  did  not  descend  below  11,000  feet — that  is,  only  2,000  feet  below  the 
ice  of  to-day ;  and  of  those  in  ordinary  valleys,  where  the  ice  was  free  to  advance 
indefinitely  down  a  steep,  narrow  trough,  not  one  descends  over  3,500  feet  below  the 
present  glacier.  No  trace  of  a  general  ice-sheet  was  seen.  The  significance  of  this 
will  be  discussed  later.  At  present  it  serves  to  show  that  the  area  of  glaciation  was 
very  restricted  and  that  its  effect  on  the  topograph}-  of  the  region  is  purely  local. 

The  effects  of  glacial  erosion  will  not  be  described  here,  since  they  differ  in  no 
essential  respect  from  what  has  been  described  under  similar  conditions  in  other 
countries.  Bold  Alpine  scenery-  is  found  among  the  aretes  and  three-edged  peaks 
of  the  southeastern  Tian  Shan,  the  cirques  of  the  northern  Pamir,  and  the  main 
valleys  with  over-steepened  walls  and  hanging  side  valleys  in  the  Alai  range.  The 
green  moraines  not  only  provide  the  traveler  with  an  easy  road,  but  furnish  fine 
pasture  for  the  flocks  of  the  nomadic  Kirghiz,  whose  roimd  felt  tents  one  is  almost 
sure  to  find  in  summer  not  far  from  every  old  moraine.  The  most  peculiar  feature 
of  glacial  erosion  is  the  broad  troughs  cut  in  the  smoothly  sloping  surface  of  the 
warped  Tertiary  peneplain  where  it  has  been  uplifted  in  the  Alai  Mountains  and 
still  more  in  the  Tian  Shan  plateau.  The  troughs  resemble  a  series  of  grooves. 
They  head  in  cirques  in  the  crest  of  the  ridge  and  widen  and  deepen  as  the  branch 
grooves  join  the  trunk  trough  during  descent,  until  at  the  lower  end  they  are 
typical  glacial  valleys  with  over-steepened  sides.  They  may  be  considered  as  the 
elongated  form  which  a  cirque  takes  in  an  inclined  plateau. 

THE   SUBDIVISION    OF   THE  GLACIAL,  PERIOD   IN   ASIA. 

In  America  and  Europe  geologists  as  a  whole  have  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  glacial  period  included  several  cold  epochs  separated  by  inter\-als  as  warm 
or  warmer  than  the  present.  Hence,  after  finding  that  old  moraines  abounded  in 
Central  Turkestan,  it  was  of  the  first  importance  to  learn  whether  they  indicated  a 
similar  subdivision  of  glacial  time  in  Asia ;  for  if  there  were  several  glacial  epochs, 
not  only  might  it  become  possible  to  correlate  Quaternar}-  events  in  Asia  with  those 
in  the  other  northern  continents,  but  a  definite  time-scale  might  be  establi-^lied 
which  could   probably  be  extended   to  the  lowlands  of  Western  Turkestan.      An 


i84 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


unexpected  result  was  obtained  in  the  study  of  this  question.  TIr-  moraines  were 
found  to  indicate  glacial  epochs  so  numerous  that  the  writer  was  very  slow  to 
accept  the  conclusions  that  they  indicated.  It  was  not  until  a  considerable  number 
of  glaciated  valleys  had  been  examined  that  credence  was  given  to  the  occurrence 
of  several  glacial  epochs  separated  by  warm  interglacial  epochs.  It  thus  appears 
that  there  were  certainly  two  and  probably  five  glacial  epochs,  separated  by  long  non- 
glacial  intervals  of  ordinary  erosion,  during  which  tlie  climate  was  relatively  warm. 

AN   OLDER   AND    A   YODNGHR   GLACIAL   EI'OCH. 

The  less  doubtful  question  of  two  glacial  epochs  will  be  first  taken  up.  The 
valleys  where  old  moraines  were  found  numbered  over  twenty,  and  all  l)ut  three  or 
four  of  them  were  examined  up  to  their  heads,  or  at  least  up  to  snow  and  ice.  All, 
not  even  excepting  the  two  or  three  small  ones  seen  at  first,  show  an  older  and  a 
younger  moraine  (see  Table  III),  although  in  some  the  distinction  was  but  slight. 


Table  III. — Glacial  phenotnena  of  Turkestan,  showing  the  number  of  moraines  in 
each  valley  visited  and  the  glacial  epoch  to  which  each  belongs. 


Name  and  location  of  valley. 


Nameless  valley,  south  of  Son  Kul 

Nameless  valley,  northeast  of  Son  Kul- .  . 
Tuluk  Su  (upper),  north  of  Son  Kul  . . 
Tuluk  Su  (lower),  north  of  Son  Kul  • . . 

Kashga  Su,  south  of  Issilc  Kul    

Ulakhol,  south  of  Issik  Kul 

Jukuchak,  south  of  Issik  Kul 

Jukuchak,  western  tributary 

Yak  Tash,  Tian  Shan  plateau 

Chakur  Kotum,  Tian  Shan  plateau 


Chakur  Korutn  (south),  branch  of  Kara 

Kul  Su. 
Mudirum  (Als  Sai),  Tian  Shan  plateau 

Kosargun  (NE.  of  Chatar    Kul),  Tian 

Shan  plateau. 
Nameless  valley,  west  of  No.  13  


Terek  Davan  (S.  side).  Alai  Mountains 

Terek  Davan  (N.  side),  Alai  Mountains 

Kichik  Alai,  Alai  Mountains. 

Kichik  Alai  (W.  side).  Alai  Mountains. 

Kauk  Bel.  Alai  Mountains 

Taka,  north  slope  of  Pamir 

Khoja  Ishken  (Kok  Su),  Alai  Mountains 

Bursundu,  branch  of  No.  21 ,  Alai  Moun- 
tains. 
Kan  Su,  north  slope  of  Pamir,  in  Bokhara 

Ispairan,  Alai  Mountains 


Elevation 

of  base  of 

lowest 


10,300 

10,700 

10,000 

10,000 

7.400 

8.200 

8,600 

9,300 

11,200 

11,200 

11,300 

10.900 

11,600 

11.800 

10.950 

10,300 

7.900 

7,300 

11,500 

9,700 

8,000 

9,500 

8,500 

7.500 


Occurrence  of  moraines. 


Epoch    Epoch 
I,  11. 


X 

1 
X 

I 

X 

I 

X 


X 

X 

X         X 

X 


X 
X 


X 
X 


X 

X 


X 


X 
X 
X 

0)_ 
X 

(» 

X 
X 
X 


V 


Epoch 
IV. 


X 


X 

x" 


X 

"x 


X 

I 

X 


Epoch 
V. 


X 
X 


X 
X 


X 

I 

X 


X 
X 


X 
X 


X 

I 

X 


X 

~x 

X 
X 


(?) 

X 


X 

X    I    X 

(?) 


X 
X 
X 

x~ 

X 
X 


X 
X~ 


X 
X 
X 

~k 

X 
X 


X 


X 
X 
X 


X 
X 


X 
X 


Preient 
VI 


X 
X 
X 

X 

(?) 


X 
X 


Elevatioa 
of  foot  of 
present 
moraine. 


11.600 


12,600 
12,600 


12,900 


11,500 
11,400 


10.500 


Crosses  (X)  indicate  moraines.     Wfiere  a  cross  is  on  a  line  the  moraine  may  be  of  either  of  the  adjacent  ages. 
Braces  ( ~- — ■)  indicate  that  though  it  is  possible  to  distinguish  two  or  more  moraines  they  may  be  stages  of  one. 
The  elevaUons  are  taken  by  aneroid,  and  arc  only  approximate  within  live  hundred  feet. 


RECONNAISSANCE    IN    CENTRAL   TURKESTAN.  185 

The  simplest  case  is  where  a  valley  contains  two  moraines,  one  below  the 
other,  as  in  the  valley  of  Kashga  Su,  a  tributary  of  the  Ulakhol  at  the  southwest 
end  of  Issik  Kul.  Here,  at  an  elevation  of  7,400  feet,  the  lowest  altitude  at  which 
any  evidence  of  glacial  action  was  seen,  the  lower  portions  of  an  old  moraine  are 
buried  in  valley  gravels.  The  moraine  itself  consists  of  bowlders  and  rock  waste  of 
various  sizes  and  kinds,  deposited  together  in  the  usual  glacial  fashion.  Its  higher 
surface  is  smooth  and  rounded  to  such  an  extent  that  the  topography  peculiar 
to  young  moraines  is  almost  obliterated,  and  the  lower  portions  of  the  moraine 
show  irregular  hillocks  and  short  ridges  projecting  out  of  a  smooth  valley  floor  of 
gravel  in  such  a  way  that  a  removal  of  the  latter  would  show  the  ordinary-  kettles 
of  a  typical  morainic  topography.  Farther  up  the  valley  there  is  another  moraine, 
entirely  separated  from  the  first.  It  has  a  younger,  fresher  appearance,  and  is  not 
at  all  drowned  in  gravel ;  hence  it  must  have  been  formed  at  a  considerably  later 
date  than  the  other;  but  so  far  as  the  evidence  of  this  valley  is  concerned  the 
younger  moraine  might  be  merely  a  stage  of  retreat  of  the  older  one. 

In  other  cases  the  relation  is  not  so  simple.     The  younger  moraine  lies,  as  it 

were,  in  the  anus  of  the  older,  and  the  two  appear  to  have  been  formed  at  widely 

diiferent  times,  separated  by  a  long  period  of  aqueous  erosion  during  which  the  ice 

retreated  farther  up  into  the  mountains  than  the  position  of  the  younger  moraines. 

One  among  many  examples  of  this  is  found  in  the  Tuluk  Valley,  north  of  Son  Kul. 

Near  the  head  of  this  valley  and  on  its  north   side  are  two  tributary-  valleys,  from 

each  of  which  projects  a  large  body  of  morainic  material  which  seems  to  be  of  two 

ages.    The  older  moraine  of  the  western  or  larger  tributary-  takes  the  form  of  a  rounded 

spur  with  its  base  at  a  height  of  about  10,000  feet.     The  spur  has  a  long,  grassy 

slope,  fairly  steep  but  thoroughly  graded,  and  showing  few  bowlders.     Its  morainal 

character  is  more  distinct  on  the  top  at  a  height  of  about  10,500  feet,  by  reason  of 

ridges,  imperfect  kettle-holes,  and  other  characteristic  forms,  and  also  b)'  reason  of 

more  numerous  bowlders.     The  topography  is  not  fresh,  however;  the  kettles  are 

all   drained,   the  slopes   are   gentle,  there  is  a  well-developed    though    circuitous 

drainage  system,  and  the  occasional  bowlders  are  well  rounded  and  deca}ed.     The 

stream  coming  from  the  mountains  has  cut  through  the  moraine  an  open  flat-floored 

valley  with  graded  sides.     If  this  open  valley  is  followed  up,  it  comes  to  a  sudden 

end  at  an  elevation  of  about     10,000  feet,  and  above  this  level  it  is  filled  with  a 

moraine  that  appears  to  be  of  much  later  date.     The  steep  front  of  the  latter  has  a 

slope  of  30°  instead  of  about  15°,  as  is  the  case  in  the  older  companion;  there  are 

deep,  steep-sided  kettles,  some  of  them  containing  pools  of  water;  drainage  is  but 

little  developed,  and  the  bowlders  are  mostly  subangular.     The  stream  here  flows  in 

a  narrow  V-shaped  valley,  the  sides  of  which  have  an  average  slope  of  35°.     Yet 

the  same  stream,  working  just  below  in  the  other  moraine,  in  what  .seems  to  be 

the  same  kind  of  material,  has  carved  out  a  valley  many  times  as  large,  with  sides 

that  slope  at  an  angle  of  only  22°.     The  inner,  smaller  moraine  shows  all  the  signs 

of  youth ;  the  outer  and  larger  all  those  of  age.     The  two  must  ha\e  been  fonned 

at  times  so  far  separated  that  one  moraine  has  had  time  to  be  maturely  eroded  and 

degraded  while  the  other  still   remains  young.     As  to  what  climatic  conditions 

intervened  between  those  times,  and  as  to  whether  the  two  moraines  represent  two 


l86  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

different  ice  advances  or  merely  two  stages  of  one  advance,  the  evidence  is  not  so 
positive,  yet  it  seems  to  show  that  the  two  moraines  represent  two  distinct  glacial 
epochs  separated  by  an  epoch  of  retreat  and  presumable  wannth.  The  rock  floor 
of  the  main  valley  which  the  older  moraine  enters  seems  to  have  been  normally 
eroded  several  hundred  feet  after  the  deposition  of  the  moraine  upon  it,  and  the  open 
valley  in  the  older  moraine  grades  into  the  newly  eroded  floor  of  the  main  valley. 
During  the  normal  erosion  of  the  main  \alley  by  its  stream  the  glacier  of  the  side 
valley  can  not  have  stood  in  a  position  to  deposit  the  younger  moraine,  for  the  open 
valley  cut  in  the  old  moraine  extends  farther  upstream  than  that  position,  and  the 
young  moraine  lies  in  the  open  valley  worn  in  its  predecessor,  which  forms  a  terrace 
above  it.  Therefore  we  seem  obliged  to  conclude  that  after  the  first  glacial  adA-ance 
the  ice  retreated  above  the  position  of  the  second  moraine  and  only  after  a  long  lapse 
of  time  again  advanced  to  deposit  the  younger  moraine. 

FIVE   GI,ACIAI.   EPOCHS. 

Let  us  now  examine  some  of  the  more  complicated  cases  in  which  there  seems 
to  be  evidence  of  five  glacial  epochs  separated  by  warmer  interglacial  epochs.  It 
is  only  in  those  valleys  where  glaciers  still  persist  that  we  can  be  certain  that  the 
whole  series  of  ancient  moraines  is  or  has  been  represented.  Kight  examples  of 
this  sort  were  examined,  of  which  two  were  seen  imperfectly.  The  other  six  are 
distinguished  by  asterisks  in  Table  III,  page  184,  where  the  name  and  locality  ol 
the  valleys  and  the  number  of  moraines  in  each  arc  indicated. 

(i)  Moraines  of  the  Jitkucliak  I 'alley. — The  simplest  case  here,  as  in  tlie 
previous  examples,  is  one  in  which  the  moraines  lie  in  a  series  one  above  the  other 
in  a  narrow  valley  whicli  has  not  greatly  changed  its  form  since  the  first  glacial 
epoch.  An  almost  perfect  example  of  this  type  is  found  in  the  Jukuchak  Valley 
(No.  7  of  Table  III),  which  may  be  ascended  southward  from  an  elevation  of  5,000 
feet  at  Issik  Kul  to  an  elevation  of  over  13,000  feet  on  the  northern  edge  of  the 
Tiau  Shan  plateau.  The  lowest  moraine  lies  at  a  height  of  about  8,600  feet.  At 
this  point  the  valley  ceases  to  be  the  narrow  steep-sided  gorge  which  can  be  ascended 
with  difficulty  through  its  lower  part,  and  becomes  broad  and  easy  to  follow, 
although  there  is  no  accompanying  change  of  rock  structure  and  no  apparent  cause 
for  the  widening  unless  it  be  due  to  glacial  erosion.  On  the  floor  of  the  widened 
valley  a  strong  terrace  is  composed  chiefly  of  large  bowlders  of  granite,  which  could 
have  come  only  from  far  up  the  valley  and  which  are  of  such  size  that  they  could 
have  been  brought  only  by  a  glacier.  The  terrace  is  therefore  interpreted  as  the 
remnant  of  a  moraine  so  old  that  all  traces  of  morainic  topography  have  disappeared. 
Above  the  terrace  the  valley  is  unincumbered  for  a  short  distance;  then  it  is  clogged 
by  another  moraine  which  is  well  weathered  and  worn,  but  which  still  preserves  in 
a  subdued  condition  the  characteristic  glacial  hillocks  and  hollows.  Still  further 
upstream  a  larger  space  of  open  valley  is  floored  with  gravel,  on  which  the  stream 
wanders  somewhat;  next  comes  another  fresher  moraine  and  another  open  space. 
Twice  more  these  features  are  repeated  before  we  reach  the  modern  moraine  at  a 
height  of  11,600  feet.     Thus  we  have  five  old  moraines  and  five  interspaces.     The 


RECONNAISSANCE    IN    CENTRAL   TURKESTAN. 


187 


moraines  grow  fresher  and  yonnger  in  form  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest;  and  a 
long  interval  mnst  have  elapsed  between  the  formation  of  No.  i  and  No.  5.  From 
the  evidence  snpplied  by  other  valleys  it  seems  that  each  moraine  represents  an 
advance  of  the  ice  after  a  considerable  retreat;  so  far  as  the  Jukuchak  \'alley  is 
concerned,  however,  the  ice  might  simply  have  retreated  by  successive  steps  and 
the  intervals  between  tlie  steps  need  not  have  been  of  great  lengtli. 

(2)  Moraines  of  the  eastern  Klioja  Ishken  I  'alley. — Another  valle)-,  that  of  the 
Kok  Su,  or  better,  the  eastern  Khoja  Ishken,  shows  the  same  succession  of  five 
moraines,  which  might  all  have  been  formed  by  one  glacier  in  its  successive  retreats; 
but  here  erosion  has  been  more  active  and  the  difference  in  age  between  the  suc- 
cessive moraines  is  more  marked.  The  first  moraine  lies  at  an  elevation  of  about 
8,000  feet  at  the  mouth  of  the  Kok  Su,  where  it  enters  the  Kuzzil  Su  of  the  Alai 
Valley.  Like  all  the  moraines  of  this  earlier  age,  it  has  completely  lost  the  original 
glacial  topography  and  is  only  to  be  distinguished  by  the  bowlders  it  contains.  These 
consist  of  slate  ranging  up  to  1 2  or  14  feet  in  size,  which  might  have  been  derived 


3,  4,  s^nioraiucs  of  the  third,  fourth,  and  fifth  glacial  epochs.     Ill,  IV,  V=level  ot  valley  floor  previous  to  the  third 
fourth,  and  fifth  glacial  epochs.     C,  D,  E— gravel  deposited  at  end  of  third,  fourth,  and  fifth  glacial  epochs. 

Fig.  131. —  Longitudinal  section  of  tfie  Khoja  tshken  or  Kok  Su  Valley. 

from  close  at  hand,  and  of  granite  up  to  7  feet  in  diameter,  which  nuist  have  been 
transported  at  least  a  dozen  miles.  The  moraine  is  now  entirelj'  smoothed  off  and 
cut  into  four  terraces.  It  lies  on  a  thick  deposit  of  river  gravel  which  was  probably 
laid  down  during  the  time  just  preceding  the  arrival  of  the  ice.  The  second  mo- 
raine is  much  like  the  first,  except  that  it  occasionally  shows  some  of  the  original 
relief  If  this  valley  were  examined  without  reference  to  any  others,  these  two 
moraines  would  be  considered  parts  of  one.  The  third,  fourth,  and  fifth  moraines 
are  all  distinct  and  are  separated  l)y  spaces  where  the  valley  is  open  and  aggraded. 
They  lie  on  rock  terraces  high  alxne  the  brook,  which,  as  it  approaches  each 
moraine,  plunges  into  a  gorge.  In  these  gorges  may  be  found  a  good  measure  of 
the  length  of  time  that  has  elap.sed  since  the  several  moraines  were  formed. 

Before  discussing  this  aspect  of  the  problem,  however,  it  will  be  well  to  consider 
the  origin  of  the  gorges  themselves.  This  is  best  explained  by  means  of  the 
accompanying  diagram  (fig.  131).  The  line  III  represents  the  valley  bottom  at  the 
beginning  of  the  third  glacial  epoch.     The  advancing  glacier  came  down  this  slope 


i88 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


and  paused  at  3,  where  it  deposited  a  moraine.  Above  this  point  the  ice  deepened 
and  broadened  its  cliannel  to  the  line  IV.  Tlie  erosive  action  of  the  glacier  ceased 
where  the  moraine  lay,  and  the  oidy  erosion  there  was  that  of  the  glacial  stream 
which  began  to  cut  a  narrow  gorge  that  bore  the  same  relation  to  its  \olume  that 
the  broad  valley  above  bore  to  the  volume  of  the  ice  that  filled  it.  Thus  the  place 
where  the  moraine  lay  became  an  elevation  with  reference  to  the  general  grade  of 
the  valley,  and  at  its  upper  end  there  was  an  actual  as  well  as  a  relative  increase  of 
relief  over  the  upstream  portion,  where  the  glacier  had  been  at  work.     When  the  ice 


Fig.  132.  —Youngest  Gorge  ot  the  Khoja  ishken,  cut  in  the  Bottom  oi  the  Main  Glacial 
Valley.     The  over-steepened  sides  o(  the  latter  show  clearly  on  the  right. 


retired  the  stream  continued  to  simplify  the  slope  of  its  bed  b)-  filling  the  glaciated 
hollow  with  gravel  (C)  and  cutting  the  gorge  still  deeper.  Three  repetitions  of  these 
events  produced  three  gorges.  Further  examples  of  gorges  thus  formed  were  seen 
in  the  valleys  of  Ispairan,  Kichik  Alai,  and  elsewhere,  although  they  were  by  no 
means  so  perfect  as  in  the  Khoja  Ishken  \'alley.  The  glacial  scouring  of  all  these 
valleys  seems  to  have  been  closely  analogous  to  but  less  powerful  than  that  by 
which  the  fjords  and  glacial  valley  lakes  of  Europe  and  America  are  sujjposed  to 
have  been  formed. 


RECONNAISSANCE    IN    CENTRAL   TURKESTAN. 


189 


The  two  upper  gorges  of  the  Khoja  Ishken  \'alley  and  part  of  the  lower  are 
cut  in  a  inetamorpluc  limestone  which  sometimes  becomes  marble,  and  in  each  the 
grade  is  so  steep  that  the  stream  is  still  active!)-  cutting  downward.  Hence  the 
width  of  the  gorges  relative  to  the  size  of  the  stream  gives  a  good  measure  of  the 
time  that  has  elapsed  since  each  gorge  was  formed.  The  upper  gorge,  the  one 
associated  with  the  fifth  moraine,  is  exceedingly  young ;  so  young  that  though  it  is 
cut  to  a  depth  of  over  50  feet  in  solid  rock  it  has  scarcely  widened  at  all,  and  the 
top  is  but  slightly  wider  than  the  bottom  (fig.  132).  It  is  so  narrow  in  one  place 
that  it  has  twnce  been  naturally  bridged  by  bowlders.  One  of  these  bridges  is 
utilized  by  the  road;  the  other  is  a  great  granite  bowlder,  25  or  30  feet  in  diameter. 


Fig.  133.  —  Marble  Bowlders,  and  beginning  ot  (he  Gorge  associated  with  the  {ourth  Khoja  Ishken  Cladei. 

which  lies  directly  across  the  narrow  slit  cut  by  the  stream.  The  next  gorge  (fig. 
133),  belonging  to  the  fourth  moraine,  though  not  much  deeper  than  the  upper  one, 
is  decidedly  wider  both  relatively  and  absolutely,  as  shown  by  the  accompanying 
cross-sections  (figs.  134,  135).  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  it  is  cut  in  marble  somewhat 
harder  than  the  limestone  of  the  upper  gorge,  its  sides  have  a  slope  of  about  45° 
instead  of  nearly  90°.  In  one  place  it  shows  a  little  terrace  near  the  bottom.  It 
seems  to  be  two  or  three  times  as  old  as  its  successor.  The  gorge  of  the  third 
moraine,  which  is  the  oldest  and  the  farthest  downstream,  is  so  broad  that  the  road 
runs  at  or  close  to  the  bottom,  and  the  sides  have  a  slope  of  only  25°  or  30°  even 
where  it  is  cut  in  granite  or  slaty  quartzite.  The  terrace,  which  lies  200  or  300 
feet  above  the  stream,  has  been  consumed  to  a  mere  fringe  on  the  valle>'-side,  and 


I  go 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


the  valley  floor  is  choked  with  waste  from  tlie  moraine  and  the  underlying-  rock. 

The   difference  in  age  between    this  gorge  and   tliat  associated  witli   llie   fourth 

moraine  appears  greater  tlian  be- 
tween the  gorges  of  the  fourth  and 
fifth  moraines.  Tliis  means  that 
between  the  formation  of  succes- 
sive moraines  there  must  have 
been  considerable  intervals  of  ero- 
sion. Where  the  glacier  stood 
during  these  intervals  is  not  clear. 
It  may  have  retreated  above  the 
position  of  the  ne.\t  moraine  and 
again  advanced;  or  it  may  merely 
have  retreated  to  that  ])osition  and 
there  remained  stationar)-. 

(3)  Moraines  of  the  Afiidinnii 
Basin. — A  third  valley,  of  l)roadly 
open  basin  form,  drained  by  the 
Mudirum  Su*  on  the  south  side 

Fig.  134.-<;ross-seclionso(  the  Khojalshken  Valley,  to  show  the  shape    of  the    Tian    Shan    plattaU,  sllOWS 

wl!!,',l7,!!f,'„,l,'''V^'%1°'''!i     Drawn  (rom  observa.,on.    q,^  moraiueS  of  foUr  aud  probablv 
without  measurement.     1  he  circles  mdicale  moraines.     1  he  lightly  '  ' 

shaded  portions  indicate  the  amount  of  erosion  since  the  respective    of    fivC    ageS    lying    ill    regular    SC- 

parts  of  the  valley  were  filled  with  ice.  .  ,         ,  •     1  ■ 

queuce,  without  any  indication  as 
to  what  happened  during  the  intervals  between 
their  deposition  or  as  to  whether  there  were  any 
intervals  when  glacial  deposition  ceased.  The 
glacier  of  this  valley  is  the  largest  of  all  those  of 
which  the  moraines  were  studied  ;  it  reaches  a 
maximum  length  of  nearly  50  miles.  The  thick- 
ness of  the  ice  was  so  great  that  at  Jubergeiiti  pass 
it  overflowed  toward  the  north  into  the  valley  of 
the  Kara  Kul  River.  It  was  not  possible  to  fol- 
low the  Mudirum  River  to  its  head,  but  a  side 
valley  was  examined  as  far  up  as  a  modern  moraine.  The  relations  of  the  moraines 
are  illustrated  in  the  accompanying  sketch  map  (fig.  136).  At  the  head  of  the 
valley  are  two  tiny  glaciers,  A  and  B,  with  little  moraines,  marked  VI.  Below 
these  is  another  moraine,  V,  which  seems  to  be  a  little  older,  but  may  be  merely 
a  stage  of  VI.  In  the  next  valley  to  the  west  is  a  cirque  with  a  ver)'  j'oung 
moraine,  V,  but  no  glacier.  There  is  much  snow  near  by,  and  these  little 
moraines  were  not  well  seen.  The  next  moraine,  I\',  is  500  or  600  feet  lower,  and 
is  a  large  semicircular  mass  of  clearly  glacial  origin.     It  is  composed  of  limestone 


Fig.  1  35.  — Cross-sections  of  the  three  gorges 
of  the  Khoja  Ishken  Valley,  to  show  the 
amount  of  widening  and  erosion  of  the 
valley  in  each  case  relative  to  the  power 
of  the  stream  and  of  erosion  without  refer- 
ence to  the  actual  size. 


*Thc  Kirghiz  call  most  of  rfiis  stream  the  .\k  Sai  or  White  River,  and  apply  the  name  Mudirum 
to  the  lower  part  only,  but  the  name  Ak  Sai  is  alnioit  as  common  as  Kuzzil  Sti,  and  as  this  Ak  Sai 
empties  into  another  Ak  Sai,  it  seems  better  to  use  the  less  common  name. 


RECONNAISSANCE    IN    CENTRAL   TURKESTAN. 


191 


and  slate,  and  accordingly  is  well  weathered.  The  brook  cnts  through  it  in  a 
narrow  valley  with  steep  sides.  In  front  of  IV  is  a  nearly  flat  plain  of  silt  and 
fine  gravel,  due  to  the  obstruction  of  drainage  by  the  next  older  moraine,  III.  This 
lies  I  >/<  or  2  miles  in  front  of  IV  and  less  than  200  feet  lower.  It  is  well  dissected 
and  graded,  with  kettle-holes  only  on  the  edges  near  the  mountains,  where  it 
approaches  its  successor.  The  stream  flows  through  it  in  a  broad  valley.  The 
next  moraine,  II,  is  far  larger,  as  it  belongs  to  the  whole  \alley  and  not  merely  to  the 
tributaiy-.  It  is  4  or  5  miles  wide,  10  or  12  long,  and  several  hundred  feet  thick. 
Because  of  its  great  size  and  because  of  its  composition  of  granite,  often  in  large 
blocks,  it  is  less  dissected  than  its  small  neighbor,  III,  but  its  location  shows  that 
it  must  be  older.  The  stream  valley  which  is  cut  through  it  is  not  of  great  width, 
although  its  sides  are  well  graded.  In  the  downstream  half  of  the  moraines  the 
valley  is  wider  and  has  three  terraces.  At  the  very  front  a  moraine  of  later  age, 
probably  corresponding  to  the  third  in  the  above  series,  comes  down  from  the 
north  and  covers  the  older  moraine  and  its  terraces.  Below  this  there  is  an 
interval  of  nearlv  9  miles  with  no  moraines  except  a  few  small  ones  which  come 


Fig.  136. — Sketch  map  showing  the  location  of  the  Mudirunv  Moraines. 

from  side  valleys  and  do  not  extend  into  the  central  portion  of  the  main  valley  basin. 
Large  bowlders  of  granite,  sometimes  reaching  a  diameter  of  20  or  30  feet,  are 
scattered  here  and  there.  The  open  valley  floor  is  of  gentle  descent  and  falls  but 
100  feet  in  the  9  miles.  Then  begins  the  lowest  and  oldest  moraine,  I.  At  first 
it  is  complicated  by  a  side  moraine  of  later  date,  coming  in  from  the  south,  but  in 
its  course  of  7  or  8  miles  farther  west  it  becomes  more  and  more  smooth  and  free 
from  surface  bowlders  and  irregularities.  Near  its  end  two  subangular  masses  of 
granite,  from  10  to  15  feet  in  diameter,  were  noticed  lying  in  the  middle  of  the  flat 
\-alley  where  they  could  not  have  been  brought  by  water.  Beyond  this  it  is  impos- 
sible to  tell  where  the  moraine  ends  and  the  gravel  plain  at  its  front  begins. 

Three  examjjles  have  been  described  in  the  preceding  paragraphs  where 
the  ancient  glaciers  have  formed  moraines  at  five  different  points  successively 
farther  and  farther  up-valley.  These  moraines  may  represent  successive  pauses  of 
one  retreat,  in  which  the  glacier  retired  quickly  for  a  certain  distance  and  then 
stood  still  for  a  considerable  time,  or  they  may  represent  distinct  glacial  advances 


192  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

separated  by  wanner  intervals  of  retreat.     Tliree  examples  wU\  now  be  described 
which  seem  to  be  explicable  only  on  the  latter  theory. 

(4)  Moraines  of  the  Yak  Task  Basin. — On  the  northern  side  of  the  Tian  Shan 
platean,  south  of  the  ea.stern  end  of  Issik  Kul,  lies  the  broad  valley  basin  of  Yak 
Tash,  surrounded  by  snowy  ranges  whose  side  valleys  head  in  little  glaciers 
(fig.  125).  Starting  from  one  of  these  glaciers,  that  of  Jnknchak,  which  is  crossed 
by  the  road  from  Przhevalsk  to  Chadir  Kul,  let  us  examine  the  moraines  in  detail, 
beginning  with  the  youngest  and  proceeding  to  the  oldest,  which  we  find  half 
inclosing  the  next  to  oldest.  The  present  moraine  is  a  tiny  affair,  perhaps  10  feet 
high,  at  the  foot  of  a  valley-head  glacier  scarcely  a  quarter  of  a  mile  long  and 
composed  largely  of  snow.  Below  this  is  a  little  jiond,  and  then  the  broad,  gentle 
slope  of  the  side  valley,  which  grows  wider  as  it  approaches  and  merges  into  the 
the  main  valley  basin.  The  upper  part  of  the  side  valley  is  floored  with  angular 
stones,  but  about  2  ]/>  miles  from  the  glacier  these  give  place  to  a  fme  horizontally 
stratified  silt,  which  is  now  dissected  to  a  depth  of  6  or  8  feet.  The  silt  appears 
to  be  the  deposit  of  a  lake,  dtie  to  the  damming  of  the  stream  by  a  moraine  lying 
half  a  mile  down  the  valley.  This  moraine  is  broad  and  flat,  with  few  kettle-holes. 
It  represents  the  last  of  the  glacial  epochs,  the  fifth.  Below  it  is  Arabel  Lake,  a 
sheet  of  water  2  or  3  miles  long,  hemmed  in  by  the  next  moraine,  and  lying  half 
in  the  main  basin,  half  in  the  side  valley.  The  moraine  of  the  fourth  epoch  is  of 
large  size,  extending  7  miles  downstream,  and  spreading  out  broadly  on  every  side 
so  as  to  fill  most  of  the  Yak  Tash  basin.  Under  such  circumstances  the  relief  is 
naturally  slight  The  moraine  is  characterized  by  low  bowlder-strewn  hills  with 
gentle  slopes,  and  by  broad,  shallow  dej^ressions,  of  which  twelve  or  fifteen  were 
seen  holding  ponds  from  200  to  2,000  feet  in  diameter  (fig.  125). 

The  fourth  moraine  comes  to  a  fairly  distinct  end  near  the  point  where  the 
stream  from  Juuka  pass  turns  from  an  eastward  to  a  westward  course.  Beyond  this, 
however,  we  encounter  a  moraine  about  7  miles  long  which  .seems  to  be  older  than 
IV  (fig.  136),  but  can  not  be  .sharply  distinguished  from  it.  At  first  sight  it  suggests 
a  sand  plain  washed  forward  from  the  ice  front,  but  that  can  not  be,  as  it  contains 
manv  bowlders  5  or  6  feet  in  diameter  and  some  much  larger,  and  in  addition 
to  this  it  increases  in  height  at  the  lower  end.  It  contains  one  or  two  small 
depressions  filled  with  water,  but  otherwise  its  top  is  quite  smooth,  and  its  graded 
sides  stretch  evenly  down  the  Jnknchak  and  Juuka  streams,  between  which  it  lies 
as  a  long  tongue.  Bowlders  crop  out  but  rarely  and  all  are  well  weathered,  with 
the  corners  rounded  off.  Diagonally  across  the  moraine  runs  what  seems  to  be  an 
abandoned  channel  of  the  Jukuchak,  50  feet  deep  and  400  or  500  feet  wide  at  the 
top,  with  a  string  of  ponds  at  the  bottom.  The  other  stream,  the  Juuka,  was  so 
far  displaced  to  the  north  by  the  upper  part  of  the  moraine  that  it  was  caught  in 
a  rock-bound  channel,  where  it  has  now  cut  for  itself  a  narrow  rock  gorge. 

The  third  moraine  lies  largely  in  the  upper  part  of  the  typically  glacial  valley 
that  connects  the  Yak  Ta.sh  and  Kara  Sai  valley  basins.  The  hills  above,  except 
where  they  have  been  acted  upon  b)-  glaciers,  have  gentle  mature  slopes,  which 
form  a  distinct  angle  with  the  steep  and  often  precipitous  sides  of  the  valley.     The 


RECONNAISSANCE    IN    CENTRAL   TURKESTAN.  193 

floor  of  the  latter  is  half  a  mile  wide  and  verj'  flat  where  it  is  not  cuinl)ered  bv  the 
third  moraine.  Main-  of  the  smaller  \alle\s  tributarj-  to  this  one  are  themselves 
glacial  in  form  and  open  in  the  sides  of  the  main  valley  at  heights  of  300  or  400 
feet,  in  true  hanging-valley  arrangement.  These  features  are  due  to  the  work  of 
the  glaciers  of  the  first  and  second  epochs,  and  their  freshness  as  compared  with 
the  weathering  of  the  moraines  is  a  good  witness  to  the  great  influence  of  solid 
rock  as  contrasted  with  rock  waste  in  preserving  physiographic  fonns.  About 
6  miles  below  the  junction  of  the  Juuka  and  Jnkuchak  streams,  which  unite  at  the 
end  of  the  third  moraine  to  form  the  Yak  Tash,  the  valley  loses  its  glacial  form 
and  broadens  into  a  basin  5  or  6  miles  wide  and  8  or  10  miles  long.  In  this  lies  the 
second  moraine,  forming  a  great  horseshoe.  It  .still  retains  much  of  morainal 
form  and  has  ninnerous  undrained  basins,  many  of  them  filled  with  ponds.  On 
account  of  its  breadth  and  flatness,  it  has  suffered  less  erosion  than  has  its  steeper  and 
narrower  successor.  The  Yak  Tash  River  flows  through  it  in  numerous  braided 
channels,  which  wander  freeh'  over  a  gravel  flood-plain  a  mile  or  two  broad. 

So  far  the  moraines  of  the  Yak  Tash  lie  in  a  linear  series  like  those  of  all  the 
other  valleys  that  we  have  considered.  The  relation  of  the  first  and  second  moraines 
is  qtiite  different.  South  of  the  Yak  Tash  3  or  4  miles  the  character  of  the  countn,- 
changes  quite  abruptly  as  one  passes  from  the  second  moraine  to  the  first.  On  the 
north  is  the  second  moraine,  a  flat  country  studded  here  and  there  with  bowlders 
and  pitted  with  numerous  little  holes  and  irregular  depressions.  It  is  very  clearly 
a  moraine,  for  although  the  slopes  are  ever>'where  well  graded,  the  drainage  is 
irregular  and  by  no  means  completely  established.  A  belt  of  country  south  of  this 
is  100  or  200  feet  higher  and  has  a  thoroughly  established  drainage  system,  to 
which  every  part  is  tributary;  the  main  river  has  cut  a  valley  several  miles  wide 
through  this  belt.  There  is  not  a  sign  of  kettle-holes  or  other  glacial  topography 
and  at  first  sight  there  is  no  sign  of  moraine ;  here  and  there,  however,  large  bowl- 
ders of  slate  or  oftener  of  granite  from  3  to  6  feet  in  diameter  rise  out  of  the  smooth, 
fine  soil,  and  smaller,  angular  bits  of  rock  of  various  kinds  are  scattered  about  on 
the  surface.  These  lie  largely  on  hill  tops,  where  they  can  have  been  brought  onlv 
by  glaciers,  and  are  therefore  to  be  regarded  as  belonging  to  an  ancient  moraine. 
The  branch  and  main  valleys  are  200  or  even  300  feet  deep,  and  are  cut  through 
the  moraine  into  an  underlying  deposit  of  soft  silt.  Apparently  a  glacier  flowed 
into  this  basin  .soon  after  a  great  deposition  of  silt  had  taken  place,  and  becau.se  of 
the  flatness  of  the  district  the  ice  spread  out  broadly  and  deposited  an  extensive 
morainic  sheet  10  to  50  feet  deep.  A  period  of  subaerial  erosion  ensued,  during 
which  the  ice  retired  long  enough  and  far  enough  to  allow. the  submature  dissection 
of  the  moraine  and  of  the  underlying  silts,  and  to  allow  the  river  to  cut  a  valley  5 
or  6  miles  wide  through  both  deposits.  The  ice  nuist  have  stood  nnich  farther 
upstream  during  this  epoch  of  erosion,  and  at  its  close  must  have  again  advanced  to 
deposit  the  second  moraine  in  the  valley  that  had  been  eroded  in  the  first  moraine. 

(5)  Afora/ius  of  the  k'ait  Si/  ^  r7//<_)'.— In  the  Kan  vSu  \'alley  all  five  of  the 
old  moraines  can  be  detected  in  addition  to  the  modern  one,  but  the  first  and  second 
are  not  w'ell  differentiated  and  do  not  need  to  be  considered.  The  third  moraine 
lies  at  an  elevation  of  about  9,0100  feet  in  the  triangle  between  the  two  main  branches 


194  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

of  Kan  Su.  It  shows  something  of  morainic  topography,  although  tliis  is  not  ver\- 
marked.  The  slopes  are  thoroughly  graded  and  covered  with  grass,  and  the  moraine 
as  a  whole  is  cut  by  several  subparallel  valleys,  two  of  which  are  occupied  by 
streams  and  have  slightly  terraced  sides,  while  the  others  are  abandoned,  and  seem 
to  be  stream  channels  of  glacial  times.  Their  heads  are  abruptly  cut  off  by  the 
fourth  moraine,  which  lies  at  an  elevation  of  about  9,500  feet,  where  there  is  a 
sudden  rise  in  the  valley  floor,  and  where  the  main  valleys  which  are  not  beheaded 
contract  somewhat.  At  the  top  of  this  rise  lies  the  distinct  frontal  ridge  of  the 
fourth  moraine,  horseshoe-shaped  and  inclosing  a  depression.  The  rest  of  this 
moraine  has  a  pronounced  glacial  topography,  although  the  slopes  are  ])erfectly 
graded.  Moraines  Nos.  3  and  4  appear  to  be  of  different  but  not  widely  sepa- 
rated ages.  The  vegetation  of  both  has  reached  what  may  be  called  the  stage  of 
complete  occupation;  that  is,  they  are  covered  with  a  fine  growth  of  grass,  except  in 
the  valleys,  where  there  are  some  trees.  The  fifth  and  last  of  the  old  moraines,  on 
the  contrary,-,  has  not  reached  this  stage.  It  begins  at  an  elevation  of  10,100  feet, 
where  there  is  a  sudden  change  to  \er\-  rough  moraine  topography,  which  seems  to 
be  of  considerably  later  date  than  that  on  which  it  lies.  Instead  of  the  surface  being 
smooth  and  grassy  and  almost  free  from  stones,  the  rough  slopes  are  covered  with 
angular  fragments  of  rock,  among  which  are  scattered  cedar  trees  and  a  growth  of 
thin,  weedy  grass  quite  unlike  the  turf  below.  The  bowlders,  too,  are  larger,  more 
ntimerous,  and  more  angular  than  those  of  the  other  moraines.  The  difference 
between  this  fifth  moraine  and  its  predecessor  is  more  marked  than  that  between 
the  adjacent  older  moraines.  The  present  moraine  at  an  elevation  of  10,500  feet  is 
quite  as  sharply  distinguished  from  the  fifth  as  the  fifth  is  from  the  fourth,  and  the 
change  is  of  the  same  sort.  The  present  moraine  exhibits  in  many  places  a  sharp 
line  of  division,  above  which  the  rock  waste  is  even  more  angular  and  fresh  than 
below,  and  above  which  there  is  practically  no  soil  filling  the  interstices  of  the  rock 
and  hence  absolutely  no  vegetation.  Much  of  the  moraine  lies  as  a  cover  on  the 
ice  itself 

In  its  lower  portion  the  modern  moraine  spreads  out,  so  that  for  a  short  dis- 
tance it  fills  the  whole  width  of  the  valley.  Higher  up,  however,  the  moraine,  or 
rather  the  o-lacier  itself  with  a  cover- 


ing of  moraine,  lies  in  an  inner  valley 
cut  in  moraine  stuff  of  an  older  date. 
This  is  represented  in  the  accom- 
panying cross-section  through  the 
valley  at  an  elevation  of  about  1 1 ,000 
feet  (see  fig.  137).  The  portion  A  rep- 
resents the  rock  valley  composed  of  "-'"''^  "«"*  of  valley.  B=n.oraine  of  third  or  fourth 
•^  ^  epoch.     C=modern  glacier.    D=niodera  moraine.    D'=bit 

limestone      below     and     purple      slate  of  modem  moraine  winch  has  overflowed  B. 

above  ;  B  represents  an  older  moraine,         F'g-  137.— Cross-section  of  the  Kan  Su  Valley  at  an  elevation 
'  ^  .  of    11.000  feel. 

either  No.   3   or  No.  4,  which  was 

formed  so  long  ago  that  its  slopes  are  thoroughh-  graded  and  are  well  co^•ered  with 
grass,  and  bowlders  have  almost  disappeared.  Yet  it  is  not  so  old  but  that  it  still 
retains  signs  of  a  morainic  topography,  though  this  is  so  far  destroyed  that  the 


RECONNAISSANCE    IN    CENTRAL   TURKESTAN.  I95 

kettles  are  drained.  On  the  outer  edges  are  valleys  where  streams  probably  flowed 
along  the  two  sides  of  the  glacier,  as  they  often  do.  The  inner  slopes  of  these  two 
portions  of  an  old  moraine  are  verj'  steep,  as  they  are  now  being  undercut  by  the 
ice,  C,  on  which  lies  part  of  the  present  moraine,  D.  The  slopes  show  that  the 
material  of  the  old  moraine  is  truly  glacial  in  its  angularity  and  irregularity  of  size, 
but  utterl)-  different  from  the  present  moraine  in  that  it  is  well  weathered  and  that 
the  soil  produced  by  weathering  fills  all  the  interstices.  In  fact,  the  slopes  seem 
to  contain  decidedly  more  soil  than  rock.  At  present  the  modern  moraine  lies  50 
feet  more  or  less  below  the  top  of  the  older  ridge,  but  there  are  many  places  where 
it  formerly  rose  to  the  top  and  o\-erflowed,  as  at  D. 

These  facts  seem  to  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  between  the  deposition  of  mo- 
raine No.  3,  or  4,  as  the  case  may  be — it  is  quite  immaterial  which — and  the 
deposition  of  the  present  moraine,  the  ice  retreated  to  a  position  farther  up  the 
valley  than  that  which  it  now  occupies,  a.s  the  following  considerations  will  show. 
It  may,  perhaps,  be  taken  as  beyond  question  that  a  moraine  such  as  B  can  not 
ha\e  become  thoroughly  weathered,  graded,  and  covered  with  grass  without  long 
exposure  to  the  air;  nor  does  it  require  discussion  to  show  that  where  graded  slopes, 
such  as  those  of  B,  are  being  undercut,  they  must  once  have  extended  farther  in  the 
direction  of  the  agency  which  undercuts  them.  Therefore  the  ice  must  for  a  long 
time  have  occupied  a  smaller  space  than  at  present,  and  since  that  time  it  must 
have  widened.  But  this  could  not  have  been  possible  with  a  continuously  retreat- 
ing glacier,  for  it  should  have  suffered  a  continuous  narrowing.  Moreover,  on  the 
supposition  of  continuous  retreat,  with  or  without  pauses,  but  without  readvances, 
each  moraine  ought  to  lie  above  the  one  that  preceded  it,  and  this  seems  to  be  the 
crux  of  the  whole  question.  A  portion  of  the  third  or  fourth  moraine — let  us  say 
the  fourth  for  convenience — lies  from  1,000  to  2,000  feet  above  the  rest  of  that 
moraine,  and  from  i  "^  to  3  miles  farther  upstream.  Between  the  two  portions  of 
the  fourth  moraine  lies  the  whole  of  the  fifth  and  most  of  the  sixth  moraine.  It 
seems  impossible  to  explain  the  facts  on  the  theory  of  one  retreat  whether  at  a 
uniform  rate  or  with  pauses. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  each  moraine  represents  an  advance  and  retreat  of  the 
ice,  the  difficulty  disappears.  The  old  glaciers  were  probabh-  co\ered  with  moraine 
stuff  just  as  the  present  one  is,  and  as  each  retreated  it  would  leave  a  trail  of 
moraine  behind  it.  The  glacial  stream  would  carve  a  \alley  in  the  abandoned 
moraine  during  the  interglacial  epoch.  The  next  glacier  would  follow  this  valley 
at  first,  though  it  would  widen  it  greatly,  and  in  most  cases  utterly  obliterate  it 
But  each  succeeding  ice  sheet  was  smaller  than  its  predecessor,  and  where  the 
valle\-  was  wide  it  might  happen  that  portions  of  the  older  moraine  would  be  pre- 
served. This  is  what  appears  to  have  taken  place  at  Kan  Su.  If  tliis  interpretation 
is  correct  it  means  that  after  the  fonnation  of  the  main  portion  of  the  fourth  or 
possibly  the  third  moraine,  the  ice  retreated  so  far  as  to  end  at  least  1,200  feet 
above  the  level  of  its  moraine,  and  so  reached  a  point  700  feet  above  the  present  level 
of  the  glacier  front;  that  is,  the  fourth  glacial  epoch  was  followed  by  an  inter- 
glacial epoch  decidedly  wanner  than  the  present  epoch. 


196 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


lOi 


Vv^i^^l 


(6)  Moraines  of  the  Taka  Valley. — Tlie  last  valle)-  to  be  described,  that  of 
Taka  Sii,  on  the  north  side  of  the  Pamir,  heads  in  two  larj^je  cirques  on  the  north 
slope  of  the  peak  of  Kliitai  Saz,  17,500  feet  high.  The  slope  from  here  to  the 
Alai  basin  is  steep  and  the  stream  has  been  cutting  steadily  downward  all  through 
glacial  times  and  to  the  present.  The  cutting  has  been  most  active  in  the  soft 
Mesozoic-Tertiarv  strata  which  lie  between  the  basin  and  the  mountains.  As  this 
is  the  place  where  most  of  the  moraines  were  deposited,  they  too  have  been 
dissected;  but  fortunately  none  have  been  entirely  destroyed,  and  the  dissection 
furnishes  a  means  of  ascertaining  what  occurred  during  the  interglacial  epochs. 
The  moraines  number  five,  in  addition  to  the  one  now  in  process  of  formation,  and 
all  are  distinctly  separated  from  their  neighbors.  We  will  take  them  up  in  order 
of  age,  beginning  with  the  oldest. 

The  first  moraine  is  merely  a  covering  of  bowlders  and  finer  glacial  material 
lying  on  the  hills  east  of  the  Taka  Su,  at  an  elevation  of  from  800  to  1,200  feet 

above  the  stream  where  it  debouches  on  the  plain 
of  the  Alai  basin  (fig.  138).  The  bowlders  are 
chiefly  limestone  or  calcareous  slate  of  the  com- 
mon Paleozoic  type,  and  many  are  of  large  size 
and  quite  angiilar.  The  surface  of  the  moraine 
is  completely  graded,  and  shows  only  a  few 
traces  of  glacial  topography,  such  as  crooked 
drainage  lines  and  a  few  detached  hollows.  The 
countr}-  rock  does  not  crop  out  through  the 
moraine  itself,  but  on  the  sides  of  the  valley  cut 
through  the  moraine  the  red  beds  of  Mesozoic  or 
Tertiary  age,  which  extend  all  along  the  base  of 
the  mountains  and  must  underlie  the  moraine, 
are  seen  up  to  an  altitude  of  600  feet  above  the 
stream. 

The  ne.\t  moraine  is  composed  of  the  same 
materials  as  the  first.  It  has  clearly  the  morainal 
type  of  topography,  although  in  a  subdued  and 
well-graded  fonn.  Its  relation  to  the  others  is 
shown  in  the  accomi>anying  sketch  map  and 
cross-section  (figs.  13.S  and  139),  where  it  is  .seen 
Moraines  of  the  Taka  that  the  secoud  moraine  lies  as  a  narrow  terrace 
in  the  valley  wliich  was  eroded  on  the  western 
side  of  the  first,  about  400  feet  above  the  stream.  The  first  moraine  was  formed 
when  the  valley  had  been  eroded  to  a  depth  much  less  than  now  and  when 
the  glacier  was  therefore  free  to  spread  over  a  considerable  area.  The  second 
moraine  was  fonned  when  the  relief  was  much  more  like  that  of  to-day,  and  the 
glacier  was  closely  hemmed  in  by  a  well-defined  valley.  It  seems  impossible  to 
explain  this  relation  except  by  supposing  that  after  the  first  glacial  epoch  the  ice 
retreated  far  upstream  above  the  upper  end  of  the  terrace  and  staid  there  long 


■^\\x\\^:^x^ 


Uns:mdf<l  areas  represent  gravel.    i-5=old  mo- 
raine; 6  =nio,1ern  moraine  ;  7  =b-cl  rock. 


Fig.  138.-Pla 


of    itie 
Valley. 


RECONNAISSANCE    IN    CENTRAL   TURKESTAN.  197 

enough  for  the  stream  to  cut  a  valley  400  or  more  feet  deep  across  the  soft  strata 
which  stretch  along  the  base  of  the  mountains.  A  second  advance  of  the  ice 
widened  this  valley  and  deposited  another  moraine  on  its  floor. 

After  this  the  ice  seems  to  have  again  retreated,  while  a  second  epoch  of 
normal  erosion  ensued.  This  was  of  considerable  duration,  since  it  was  suflBcient 
not  only  to  account  for  the  considerable  differences  in  amount  of  weathering 
between  the  second  and  third  moraines,  but  also  to  allow  the  cutting  of  a  valley 
300  or  400  feet  deep  through  the  second  moraine.  That  the  second  moraine  was 
so  deeply  eroded  is  made  clear  b\'  the  fact  that  the  third  moraine  lies  more  than  300 
feet  lower  than  the  second.  A  glacier  can  not  deepen  its  valley  where  it  is  depositing 
a  moraine ;  therefore  the  erosion  of  the  valley  nmst  ha\-e  been  perfonned  by  water 
after  the  ice  had  retreated.  Tlie  moraine,  the  third  of  the  series,  which  was  fonned 
after  this  epoch  of  erosion  lies  in  a  valley  of  almost  the  same  fonn  as  that  of  to-day. 
The  moraine  itself  consists  of  a  broad,  rounded  lobe  which  rises  abruptly  in  a 
smooth,  steep  slope  from  the  extensive  gra\el  plain  of  the  Alai  basin  and  has 


' .  2. 3.4'=mO''aines  of  the  respective  epochs.     IV'=gravel  deposited  in  the  valley  as  the  fourth  glacier  was  advancing. 
Fig.  139. — Cross-section  o(  the  Taka  Valley,  looking  nortK. 

the  characteristic,  though  slightly  subdued,  topograph)-  of  a  moraine.  Through 
the  middle  nins  the  verj-  broad  flood-plain  of  the  Taka  Su.  The  moraine  is  more 
complete  than  either  of  its  predecessors,  because  the  lower  parts  of  the  earlier 
moraines  have  been  cut  oflT  by  the  broadening  of  the  main  Alai  basin  in  the  soft 
Tertiaries.  Upstream  the  third  moraine  is  prolonged  for  2  or  3  miles  in  the  form 
of  a  terrace  of  the  same  .sort  as  that  of  the  second  moraine  below  which  it  lies. 

The  next  interglacial  epoch,  that  between  the  deposition  of  the  third  and 
fourth  moraines,  seems  to  have  been  shorter  than  its  predecessor;  nevertheless 
there  must  have  been  an  interval  of  retreat  during  which  aqueous  erosion  again 
deepened  the  Taka  Su  \'alley.  This  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  fourth  moraine,  like 
both  the  second  and  third,  is  prolonged  far  upstream  in  the  fonn  of  a  terrace  co\-ered 
with  glacial  debris  and  ha\ing  along  its  inner  edge  an  old  stream  channel.  The 
terrace  is  smaller  than  the  one  above  it,  just  as  that  is  smaller  than  its  predecessor. 
The  main  body  of  the  fourth  moraine  lies  directly  upon  the   third,  about  a  mile 


198  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

back  from  whose  front  it  rises  sharply  lOO  feet  or  more.  It  is  of  the  same  material 
as  all  the  others,  but  is  decidedly  fresher  in  form.  The  hills  and  hollows  are  very 
clearly  defined,  though  all  are  well  covered  with  ^rass,  and  some  of  the  kettles 
contain  water.  Where  the  Taka  Su  traverses  the  moraine  it  has  cut  a  flood-plain 
about  100  yards  wide,  on  the  sides  of  which  are  steep,  ungraded  walls,  disclosing 
the  structure  of  the  underlying  deposits.  Here  it  is  seen  that  the  moraine  lies  upon 
a  consideral)le  deposit  of  gravel.  The  .same  feature  is  seen  in  a  number  of  other 
cases,  where  water-laid  gravel  underlies  moraines  of  various  ages.  This  sliows  that 
previous  to  the  formation  of  .such  moraines  there  was  a  time  of  aggradation, 
probably  due  to  the  increasing  load  of  the  stream  which  heralded  the  advance  of 
the  ice.  As  soon  as  the  stream  leaves  the  fourth  moraine  and  enters  the  third  there 
is  a  sudden  and  ver^-  marked  change  in  the  character  of  the  flood-plain,  which 
expands  abruptly  to  five  or  six  times  its  fonner  width.  This  is  not  due  to  change  in 
material,  for  the  moraines  are  alike  in  composition  ;  nor  is  it  due  to  the  less  tliickness 
of  the  deposit  which  is  cut  through  in  the  older  moraine,  for  if  this  were  tlie  case 
the  broadening  would  be  gradual  and  funnel-shaped  instead  of  sudden  and  at  right 
angles.  Moreover,  in  the  older  moraine  the  flood-plain  is  not  limited  by  steep 
stream-cut  walls  as  it  is  above,  but  by  gently  sloping,  sinuous  shores  rather  than 
banks ;  for  the  moraine  is  half-drowned  in  flood-plain  gravel,  so  that  the  kettles  fonn 
deej)  ba)S  and  the  hills  form  islands  and  promontories.  The  gravel  which  drowns  the 
third  moraine  seems  to  belong  to  the  .same  epoch  as  that  which  underlies  the 
fourth,  although  lack  of  time  made  it  impossible  to  trace  one  into  tlie  other. 
Apparently  at  the  end  of  the  third  glacial  epoch  the  ice  retreated  above  the  upper 
limit  of  the  terraces,  and  normal  stream  erosion  proceeded  far  enough  to  ctit  into 
the  underhing  rock  along  the  terraced  portion  of  the  valley,  and  to  cut  a  broad 
swath  through  the  latest  moraine.  Then,  as  the  interglacial  epoch  drew  to  a  close, 
there  seems  to  have  been  an  increase  in  the  load  of  the  streams.  As  a  result,  the 
whole  valley  was  aggraded,  and  in  the  region  of  the  moraine  the  aggradation  was 
so  great  that  it  not  only  filled  the  valley  eroded  in  the  moraine,  but  caused  the 
gravel  to  overflow  and  cover  the  adjacent  parts  of  the  moraine  itself  Meanwhile  the 
glacier  was  advancing.  In  its  upper  cour.se  it  doubtless  widened  and  deepened  the 
valley,  but  near  the  front  it  ceased  to  erode  and  flowed  on  top  of  the  gra\el  and  the 
earlier  glacial  deposits,  there  forming  a  new  moraine,  the  fourth  of  our  series. 

The  youngest  of  the  old  moraines  is  a  small  one  far  up  the  valley,  close  to  that 
which  is  now  being  formed.  There  is  nothing  to  prove  that  it  does  not  mark 
merely  a  stage  in  the  retreat  of  the  fourth  glacier.  The  other  moraines,  however, 
seem  to  represent  epochs  and  not  stages,  so  that,  judging  from  analog}'  and  even 
without  the  evidence  of  the  Kan  Su  moraine  (p.  193)  the  fifth  moraine  ought  to  repre- 
sent a  glacial  advance  following  a  retreat.  It  is  noticeable  that  each  moraine  is  smaller 
than  its  predecessor  and,  except  for  the  older  ones,  of  which  the  ends  are  cut  off",  each 
moraine  extends  to  a  less  distance  downstream  than  its  predecessor.  The  amount 
of  erosion  in  the  successsive  interglacial  epochs  also  grows  less  and  less. 


RECONNAISSANCK    IN    C1:NTKAL    TUUKKSTAN.  I99 

SUMMARY   OF  THE    GLACIAL     PERIOD. 

The  facts  presented  in  the  preceding  sections,  together  with  others  of  a  similar 
natnre  not  here  recorded,  show  that  in  Central  Turkestan  there  are  many  exidences 
of  a  Quaternary  glacial  period,  although  all  records  of  glaciation  are  confined  to 
high  levels.  Wherever  old  moraines  are  well  developed  they  indicate  that  the  glacial 
period  is  divisible  into  two  or  more  subdivisions ;  and  where  the  valleys  are  large 
and  reach  high  enough  still  to  contain  glaciers  the  number  of  these  subdivisions  is 
five,  marked  by  successive  moraines,  each  of  which  is  smaller  and  at  a  greater  alti- 
tude than  its  predecessor.  Two  'theories  present  themselves  as  worth}-  of  consider- 
ation in  explanation  of  these  facts.  According  to  one  there  was  but  a  single  glacial 
advance  and  retreat.  Tiie  retreat  was  not  accomplished  uniformly  or  rapidly,  but 
by  successive  steps,  after  each  of  which  there  was  a  long  pause  that  gave  opportunity 
for  the  accumulation  of  a  moraine ;  thus  five  moraines  were  fonned  by  each  glacier 
and  those  now  in  process  of  deposition  belong  to  the  sixth  .step  of  the  same  long 
retreat.  According  to  the  other  theor}-,  each  moraine  represents  a  distinct  glacial 
epoch,  during  which  the  glaciers  first  advanced  and  then  retreated.  Under  this 
theon-  the  intervals  of  retreat  were  as  wann  as  or  warmer  than  the  present  and  the 
ice  retreated  far  into  the  mountains  during  each  of  them. 

For  fifteen  out  of  the  twenty-four  glaciated  valleys  examined  the  first  theory'  is 
sufficient,  but  it  will  not  explain  the  other  nine.  In  eight  of  these  nine  valleys  one 
or  more  of  the  older  moraines  lies  upon  a  topography  different  from  that  of  to-day,  so 
as  to  suggest  that  the  moraines  and  the  floor  on  which  they  rest  have  been  trenched 
by  a  valley  of  stream  erosion.  In  this  valley  lie  the  younger  moraines,  leaving  the 
older  moraines  as  terraces  which  extend  beyond  the  later  moraines  both  up-valley 
and  down-valley ;  the  ujj-valley  extension  of  the  morainic  terrace  gives  a  minimum 
measure  of  the  retreat  of  the  glacier  during  the  interglacial  epoch.  In  the  ninth 
valley  a  detached  portion  of  an  older  moraine  lies  far  up-valley  from  its  successor  and 
even  above  the  main  part  of  the  modern  moraine.  These  facts  are  to  be  explained 
only  by  supposing  a  glacial  retreat  and  advance  in  each  interglacial  epoch,  and  hence 
a  wanner  interglacial  epoch  between  colder  glacial  epochs.  Another  sort  of  evidence 
of  a  warmer  interglacial  epoch  is  found  where  one  moraine  lies  upon  its  predecessor 
in  an  attitude  which  indicates  that  before  the  deposition  of  the  younger  moraine 
the  older  one  was  first  an  area  of  erosion  and  later  of  deposition.  All  these  facts 
accord  with  the  theory  of  successive  advances  and  retreats,  and  thus  warrant  the 
division  of  the  glacial  period  into  several  glacial  and  interglacial  epochs.  In  one 
place  or  another  signs  of  an  interglacial  retreat  are  found  between  each  successive 
pair  of  the  four  earlier  moraines,  while  the  fifth  moraine  stands  apart  from  the  others, 
except  at  Kan  Su,  where  the  time  during  which  there  is  evidence  of  retreat  may  be 
either  between  the  third  and  fourth  or  fourth  and  fifth  advances  of  the  ice.  Ever}-- 
where  the  climate  of  the  successive  glacial  epochs  seems  to  have  grown  less  severe, 
and  the  duration  of  the  interglacial  epochs  seems  to  have  diminished  in  the  same 
ratio. 


200  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

COMPARISON  OI"  OLACIATIOX  OK  ASIA  WITH    THAT  Ol"  AMURICA  AND  IvUKorK. 

When  the  glacial  history  of  Asia  is  comparefl  with  tliat  of  Aiueiica  and  Europe 
there  is  found  to  be  an  essential  agreement  of  the  main  facts.  In  all  three  conti- 
nents there  seem  to  have  been  cold  glacial  and  warm  interglacial  epochs.  American 
geologists  usually  recognize  three  advances  of  the  ice,  while  many  European  geol- 
ogists recognize  a  larger  number,  and  in  Asia,  as  we  ha\e  seen,  there  seem  to  liaVe 
been  five.  In  so  far  as  these  facts  agree,  they  indicate  that  the  cause  of  the  glacial 
period  must  have  been  of  widespread  influence,  since  it  has  produced  similar  effects 
in  many  parts  of  the  northern  hemisphere.  The  present  discrepancy  in  the  number 
of  glacial  epochs  detected  in  different  regions  may  yet  be  reconciled ;  but  there  is 
another  discrepancy  which  can  not  as  yet  be  explained.  It  has  been  already  .stated 
that  the  glaciatioii  of  Central  Asia  was  much  less  severe  than  that  of  Europe  and 
America.  A  specific  comparison  will  make  this  clearer.  The  onh-  European 
mountains  that  are  at  all  comparable  in  height  to  the  Alai  and  the  Tian  Shan 
ranges  are  the  Alps;  but  the  Alps  lie  so  much  farther  north  than  the  Tian  Shan 
and  in  a  region  of  so  much  greater  precijiitation  that  a  direct  comparison  as  to 
glaciatioii  can  not  be  made  between  them.  In  .\inerica,  however,  the  Uinta  and 
Wasatch  ranges,  although  somewhat  lower  than  the  Asiatic  ranges,  are  in  other 
respects  very  similar  to  them.  In  both  cases  the  mountains  lie  at  a  latitude  of 
from  40°  to  42°  N.,  in  the  center  of  a  continent  far  from  the  .sea,  and  therefore  in  a 
region  of  slight  rainfall.  Close  by  are  extensive  desert  plains,  along  the  border  of 
which  are  numerous  piedmont  villages  dependent  entirely  on  irrigation  by  moun- 
tain streams.  The  Asiatic  mountains  are  higher  than  the  American  ranges  above 
named  by  an  average  of  fully  3,000  feet ;  they  seem  also  to  have  at  present  a  greater 
precipitation,  if  we  may  draw  such  a  conclusion  from  the  number  of  summer  storms, 
the  height  of  the  snowline,  the  number  of  perennial  streams,  and  the  amount  of 
vegetation.  From  these  considerations  it  is  clear  that  if  during  the  glacial  period 
there  was  an  equal  climatic  change  in  both  countries  the  Asiatic  glaciers  ought  to 
have  descended  lower  than  the  American  ;  but  this  was  not  the  case.  Let  us  com- 
pare the  figures  in  the  two  regions. 

In  order  to  avoid  all  po.ssibility  of  exaggerating  the  unlikeness  between  the 
Asiatic  and  the  i.\merican  ranges,  let  us  .say  that  the  average  lower  limit  of  perma- 
nent snow  is  13,000  feet  in  both  cases,  although  in  America  it  is  above  this,  and  in 
Asia  decidedly  below.  Let  us  also  suppose  that  the  greater  height  of  the  Asiatic 
mountains  had  no  effect  on  the  descent  of  their  more  protected  northern  glaciers. 
Even  with  these  concessions  we  find  that  the  Uinta  Mountains  weie  covered  by 
glaciers  which  locally  merged  into  something  of  an  ice  sheet  near  their  western 
end,  while  those  of  the  Alai  and  Tian  .Shan  were  all  confined  to  the  valleys.  The 
average  descent  of  the  ice  in  the  twenty-four  valle\'s  listed  in  Table  III,  from 
the  assumed  snow-line  of  13,000  feet,  places  the  base  of  the  lowest  old  moraine  at 
9,740  feet  f  while  in  the  Uinta  and  Wa,satch  mountains  the  average  altitude  of  the 
moraines  on  the  northern  slops  is  8,055  ^^^^  ^'^^^  on  the  southern  slope  7,033  feet, 
as  determined  by  Dr.  W.  W.  Atwood.  If  we  compare  the  extreme  jjoints  to  which 
the  lowest  glaciers  descended  below  the  present  snow  line  in  either  region  it  apj^ears 


RECONNAISSANCE    IN    CENTRAL   TURKESTAN.  20I 

that  ill  the  Wasatch  and  Uinta  ranges  there  are  cases  of  a  descent  of  8,000  feet, 
although  in  the  Alai  and  Tian  Shan  mountains  tlie  extreme  is  only  about  4,000. 
In  seven  Asiatic  valleys  in  which  there  are  still  glaciers  at  the  valley  head  the 
average  descent  from  the  foot  of  the  glacier  to  the  foot  of  the  lowest  moraine  was 
2,150  feet.  In  four  of  these  cases,  where  the  old  moraines  lie  in  sloping  valleys  and 
the  old  glaciers  were  therefore  free  to  descend  without  obstruction,  the  average 
descent  from  present  glacier  to  oldest  moraine  is  2,550  feet ;  in  the  three  other  cases 
where  the  old  moraines  lie  in  fiat  basins  and  the  glaciers  could  not  descend  to  lower 
levels,  it  is  1,600  feet.  Similar  measures  can  not  be  given  for  the  American  moun- 
tains, since  no  glaciers  e.xist  there  to-day,  but  from  the  other  figures  already  given 
it  is  to  be  inferred  that  the  American  measure  would  be  at  least  twice  as  great  as 
the  Asiatic.  It  is  conceivable  that  this  difference  in  intensit}'  between  the  glaciation 
of  Asia  and  that  of  the  other  continents  was  due  to  a  shifting  of  the  poles;  but 
besides  being  without  assignable  e.xplauation,  this  hypothesis  becomes  complicated 
to  an  untenable  extent  when  it  is  made  to  explain  the  interglacial  epochs  also.  A 
simpler  hypothesis  is  that  during  glacial  times  the  sea  covered  northern  Asia  and 
rendered  the  climate  more  equable,  a  tlieor>'  which  has  been  advanced  bv  several 
writers.  Before  this  h)pothesis  can  be  adequately  tested  a  great  array  of  facts  is 
required  not  onh-  in  regard  to  the  old  glaciers  themselves,  but  also  in  regard  to 
rainfall  and  evaporation  and  in  regard  to  the  changes  of  elevation  which  the  land 
has  suffered  relative  to  the  sea. 

TERRACES. 

If  during  the  Quaternar\-  era  there  were  climatic  changes  of  such  magnitude 
and  frequency  as  those  demanded  in  explanation  of  the  old  moraines,  the  changes 
must  have  left  their  traces  all  over  the  region.  vSuch  traces  can  be  detected  in  two 
situations,  namely,  the  terraces  of  streams  and  the  deposits  of  lakes.  The  most 
striking  feature  of  the  terraces  in  the  valle)'s  of  Central  Turkestan  is  their  wide  dis- 
tribution and  uniformity  of  pattern,  without  respect  to  the  size  or  location  of  the 
stream  along  which  they  occur.  They  were  seen  in  the  vallej-s  of  swift  mountain 
torrents  and  along  the  sluggish  rivers  of  the  plains.  They  occur  not  oulv  in  the 
valleys  of  tributaries  of  the  Syr  Darya (Jaxartes)  on  the  north,  and  of  the  Ainu  Darja 
(Oxus)  on  the  south,  but  also  along  the  streams  that  wither  to  nothing  in  the  Kash- 
gar  basin,  whether  their  source  be  the  Tian  Shan  plateau  to  the  north  or  the  Alai 
Mountains  to  the  west;  and  they  are  found  even  along  the  water-courses  leading  to 
inclosed  lakes.  They  var}-  in  number  from  stream  to  stream  as  well  as  in  different 
parts  of  the  same  stream.  At  the  \-er>-  head  of  a  valle\-  there  is  naturally  no  terrace, 
but  as  the  valley  is  followed  downward,  first  one  terrace  appears  and  then  another, 
until  in  that  portion  of  the  valle)-  where  erosion  has  been  more  active  the  terraces 
reach  a  maximum  both  in  size  and  number.  Farther  dowai-valley  they  again  decrease 
in  both  respects  until  finally,  far  out  on  the  floor  of  some  basin,  a  single  weak  ter- 
race dies  out  entirely  as  the  stream  becomes  an  agent  of  deposition  rather  than  of 
erosion. 


202  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

The  number  of  terraces  ranges  from  none  to  nine,  but  neither  extreme  repre- 
sents the  true  state  of  affairs.  V.'here  terraces  are  absent  it  is  either  because  the 
slope  of  the  streams  is  so  gentle  that  there  is  no  erosion  or  because  the  slope  is  so 
steep  and  the  country-  rock  so  resistant  that  the  streams  lia\-e  as  yet  been  able  to  cut 
only  narrow  gorges.  Where  the  number  is  over  five  the  material  is  usualh-  uncon- 
solidated gravel,  and  some  of  the  teiTaces  are  usually  .small  and  seem  to  be  mere 
stages  of  larger  ones.  Ordinarily  there  are  from  three  to  fi\-e  terraces.  The  num- 
ber of  valleys  for  which  the  writer  has  a  record  is  fortj'-three,  and  the  number  of 
terraces  in  these  vallej's  is  shown  in  Table  IV.  The  number  of  valleys  with  only 
one  or  two  terraces  was  really  larger  than  appears  from  the  table;  for  after  the 
widespread  distribution  of  the  terraces  had  been  noticed,  valleys  where  only  one  or 
two  occurred  were  not  recorded. 

Table  IV. — Terraces. 


Valleys  with — 

One  terrace 3 

Two  terraces 3 

Three  terraces 12 

Four  terraces 8 

Five  terraces 9 


Valleys  with — 

Six  terraces 4 

Seven  terraces 3 

Eight  terraces o 

Nine  terraces i 


The  terraces  are  sometimes  cut  in  gravel  (fig.  140),  and  sometimes  in  rock 
(fig.  141),  but  in  the  latter  case  there  is  always  a  cover  of  gravel  lying  over  the  rock. 
It  may  happen  in  a  single  valley  that  the  upstream  portions  of  the  terraces  are 
almost  wholly  cut  in  rock,  while  the  downstream  portions  are  entirely  in  gravel, 
as,  for  instance,  along  the  Kuzzil  Su,  at  the  southeast  end  of  Issik  Kid.  In  vallej-s 
such  as  those  of  the  Ispairan  Su,  flowing  to  Marghilan,  and  of  the  Ak  Bura,  flowing 
to  Osh,  it  often  happens  that  the  terraces  are  cut  for  a  certain  distance  in  soft  strata, 
or  in  gravel  that  fills  a  basin  where  soft  strata  have  been  excavated,  although  farther 
down  the  stream  flows  through  a  narrow  canyon  in  hard  strata,  without  a  trace  of 
terracing;  l)Ut  when  the  hard  strata  end  and  soft  ones  begin  once  more,  the  ter- 
races are  resumed  as  though  the)'  had  ne\er  been  interrupted. 

Another  and  perhaps  the  most  characteristic  feature  of  the  terraces  is  the  per- 
sistence with  which  the  different  members  of  a  series  preserv^e  the  same  relati\-e 
height  and  width.  In  terraces  due  merely  to  the  swinging  of  the  stream  from  side 
to  side  as  it  cuts  steadily  downward,  one  terrace  is  here  or  there  cut  off  either  at  the 
upper  or  lower  end  by  another  terrace  of  later  date,  and  a  pattern  of  cusj^s  and  bays 
is  thus  fonned  along  the  valley  side.  In  such  cases  a  single  terrace  can  only  be 
traced  a  short  distance,  and  the  number  of  terraces  is  continually  changing.  In  the 
mountain  valleys  of  Central  Turkestan,  on  the  other  hand,  although  it  sometimes 
liapjiens  that  one  terrace  truncates  another  and  thus  fonns  a  cusp,  this  is  far  from 
being  a  prevalent  condition ;  each  le\-el  is,  as  a  rule,  distinct  and  does  not  interfere 
with  its  neighbors.  Several  terraces  often  nin  for  many  miles  side  by  side  without 
interfering  with  one  another,  each  one  preser\-ing  an  almost  uniform  width  with 
remarkable  persistency.  As  a  rule,  too,  the  uppermost  terrace  possesses  not  only 
the  greatest  width,  but  the  greatest  height.  Such  a  regular  diminution  in  size  can 
mean  only  that  the  cause  of  the  terracing  was  of  steadih-  decreasing  efficiency. 


RECONNAISSANCE    IN    CENTRAL   TURKESTAN. 


203 


TERRACES   AS   A    RESULT   OF   WARPING. 

There  seem  to  be  but  two  causes  competent  to  produce  terraces  of  so  wide  a 
distribution  and  so  uniform  a  character.  One  of  these  is  warping  of  the  earth's  crust 
and  the  other  is  change  of  climate.  It  is  highly  probable  that  terraces  resulting 
from  both  causes  may  exist  close  together,  but  in  the  main  the  terracing  in  Central 
Turkestan  seems  to  be  due  to  climatic  variations.  The  reasons  for  this  conclusion 
are,  first,  the  wide  distribution  of  the  terraces,  and,  second,  their  relation  to  the 
deposition  of  gravel. 


Fig.  140.  -  View  down  the  Kuzzil  Su  on  the  eastern  border  of  Bokhara,  showing  a 
gravel-filled  valley  which  has  been  re-excavated.  In  the  foreground  four  terraces 
can  be  seen  on  the  left. 


A  phenomenon  of  so  wide  an  extent  and  ot  such  uniformity  in  essential  features 
as  are  the  terraces  must  have  a  proportionately  extensive  and  uniform  cause.  It  is 
possible  to  imagine  a  complicated  and  intermittent  bending  of  the  earth's  crust  so 
extensive  and  so  systematically  rel.ited  to  the  streams  that  all  portions  of  a  large 
area  containing  four  or  five  distinct  and  interlocking  river  basins,  with  streams 
flowing  in  every  direction,  should  be  warped  so  as  to  cause  everv  stream  to  cut 
terraces  of  the  same  .sort  and  in  the  same  order.  But  this  would  involve  a  more 
highh-  specialized  type  of  bending  than  is  known  elsewhere.     It  would  require  that 


204 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN, 


each  of  the  mountain  masses,  large  or  small,  should  be  intermittently  elevated  or 
that  each  of  the  basins  should  be  intermittently  depressed  in  such  a  way  that  all  the 
streams  should  be  intermittently  accelerated  in  their  work  of  erosion.  This  pro- 
cess involves  an  alternation  of  movement  and  rest  from  four  to  six  times  in  each 
separate  drainage  area,  and  at  each  alternation  the  amount  of  uplift  and  the  length 
of  the  period  of  rest  nuist  have  decreased.  All  this  seems  improlxible,  whatever 
may  be  thought  of  its  possibility.  ^ 

It  is,  however,  not  only  the  erosion  of  the  terraces  that  has  to  be  accounted 
for;  in  most  cases  each  terrace  in\ol\es  an  epoch  of  deposition  preceding  the  epoch 
of  erosion.  The  gravel  deposits  in  which  the  terraces  are  carved  occur  not  onlj-  at 
the  mouth  of  every  vallc)-  where  it  opens  on  the  plain,  but  also  along  the  course  of 


Fig.  HI. — Terraces  and  Meanders  of  another  Kuzzil  Su  near  Chadir  Kul.  on  the  Tian  Shan  Plateau,  at  an 
elevation  of  I  1,000  feet.     These  terraces  are  cut  partly  in  gravel  and  partly  in  red  Tertiary  limestone. 

many  streams  almost  to  their  heads.  Sometimes  the  gravel  lies  on  rock-cut  terraces 
(fig.  142),  where  it  might  have  been  formed  during  periods  of  rest  when  no  uplift  was 
in  progress.  In  other  cases,  however,  the  terraces  along  large  portions  of  the  stream 
course  are  cut  in  gravel  only,  and  the  rock  bottom  of  the  valley  is  now  no  deeper  than 
when  the  first  gravel  deposits  were  begun  (fig.  143).  Where  this  is  tnie  the  net  result  of 
whatever  crustal  movements  have  taken  place  has  been  that  they  have  balanced  one 
another  in  such  a  way  as  to  bring  the  region  back  to  essentially  the  same  position 
that  it  first  occupied.  There  must  have  been  depression  to  cause  the  aggradation 
of  the  valleys  by  gravel  deposits,  and  this  must  have  been  followed  by  periodic  and 
decreasing  uplifts  of  which  the  sum  was  equal  to  the  total  previous  depression ; 


RECONNAISSANCE    IN    CENTRAL   TURKESTAN. 


205 


nor  does  this  show  the  full  complexity  of  the  problem.  In  the  valley  of  the 
Ispairan  Su,  south  of  Marghilan,  for  example,  gravels  of  two  and  possibly  three 
ages  can  be  detected.  The  oldest  is  a  very  coarse  deposit  three  or  four  hundred 
feet  thick,  which  is  cemented  into  solid  conglomerate  by  calcite  from  the  limestone 
walls.  A  deep  valley  was  then  cut  in  the  conglomerate,  so  that  its  remaining 
portions  form  a  terrace  several  hundred  feet  above  the  stream  (fig.  144).  This  valley 
was  then  filled,  though  to  a  much  less  height  than  before,  with  gravel  of  the  same 
sort  as  the  first,  except  that  it  is  not  cemented  so  firmly  into  conglomerate.  In 
this  second  conglomerate  another  valley  has  been  cut ;  and  there  are  places  where 
the  filling  and  cutting  seems  to  have  been  repeated  a  third  time  on  a  still  smaller 


•-a.'*>S-.»J»'»aA-.v . 


■■s%.-M<>ji.-;  - 


Fig.  142. — Terrace  wall  of  the  Kan  Su,  west  o(  Kashgar,  showing  horizontal  gravel  above  tilted  Mesozoic  strata. 
On  the  left  or  north  side  are  the  coal  measures;  on  the  right  are  the  vermilion-red  beds.  Between  the  two 
can  be  detected  a  slight  unconformity,  A. 

scale.  If  all  this  is  due  to  defonnation  it  means  that  there  has  been  an  extraordinarily 
complex  series  of  palpitations — now  up,  now  down — and  that  while  the  upward 
movements  ha\-e  been  parallel  over  large  areas,  the  downward  mo\-ements  have 
occurred  erraticall)-  here  and  there  in  such  a  way  tliat  the  terraces  of  valleys  close 
beside  one  another  are  of  different  types,  or  that  the  upper  part  of  a  valley  has 
merely  been  cut  again  and  again,  while  the  lower  part  has  been  both  cut  and  filled 
an  equal  lunnber  of  times.  If,  then,  the  theor}-  that  the  terraces  are  due  to  move- 
ments of  the  crust  can  not  be  said  to  be  absolutely  untenable  by  reason  of  the 
coniplicatious  that  it  involves,  it  certainly  matches  the  facts  only  indifferently  well. 


2o6 


EXPLORATIONS   IN    TURKESTAN. 


XBRRACES  AS  A  RESULT  OF  CLIMATIC    CHANGES. 

Let  us  see  if  the  other  theory,  that  of  climate  changes,  is  more  satisfactory. 
Starting  with  a  climate  and  topography  similar  to  those  of  to-day,  what  would  be 
the  effect  of  successive  epochs  of  glacial  and  non-glacial  climate  or  of  colder  and 
wanner  climate?  Judging  by  what  has  been  found  true  in  other  parts  of  the 
world,  the  effect  would  be  just  what  we  find  in  the  terraces  of  Central  Turkestan. 
During  the  epochs  of  colder  climate  aggradation  would  take  place  in  all  the  valleys 
where  the  streams  had  already  attained  a  graded  condition ;  and  that  condition 
would  Isoon  be  established  in   those  valleys  where  the  slope  was  relatively  gentle, 


Fig.  143.-  Terraces  of  the  Kok  Kiya,  on  the  Tian  Shan  Plateau,  al  an  elevation  o(  I  1,500  (ect.  In 
the  foreground  and  in  the  middle  distance  the  stream  has  been  caught  upon  limestone  and  has  cut 
merely  a  narrow  gorge,  while  in  the  gravel  between  it  has  excavated  a  broad  flood-plain  with 
terraced  sides. 

though  the  streams  were  not  previously  graded.  The  graded  streams  would  then 
swing  sidewi.se,  and  very  broad  flood-plains  wotdd  be  fonned.  When  warmer 
conditions  again  prevailed  the  streams  would  once  more  begin  to  cut  downward ; 
the  few  streams  that  had  already  reached  grade  previous  to  the  period  of  aggradation 
would  cut  into  the  gravel  till  a  new  grade  was  reached,  and  then,  if  time  allowed, 
they  would  broaden  their  flood-plains  once  more.  Of  the  other  streams,  the 
majority  would  soon  cut  through  the  gravel  coating  of  their  flood-plains  and 
intrench  themselves  in  the  solid  rock  beneath.  If  another  cold  epoch  ensued,  the 
previonsl}-  graded  streams  would  begin  to  aggrade  and  would  fill  their  valleys  in  the 
same  way  as  before  ;  the  others  would  become  graded  and  would  open  their  valleys 
and  fonn  flood-plains  once  more.     Thus,  In-  a  succession  of  alternations  between 


RECONNAISSANCE    IN    CENTRAL   TURKESTAN. 


207 


colder  and  wanner  epochs,  a  series  of  terraces  would  be  formed  closely  resembling 
those  found  to-day,  provided  only  that  the  epochs  constantly  diminished  in  intensity 
and  duration.  Those  streams  in  which  a  graded  condition  had  been  reached  before 
this  series  of  climatic  changes  began  would  have  their  terraces  cut  entirely  in  gravel, 
while  the  others  would  have  terraces  composed  partly  of  gravel  and  partly  of  rock. 
The  streams  of  this  class  are  as  a  rule  deepening  rather  than  widening  their  valleys. 
It  is  noteworthy  that  this  series  of  climatic  changes  corresponds  essentially 
with  the  series  inferred  from  the  old  moraines,  and  the  agreement  of  the  two  greatly 
favors  the  tlieorj'  that  accounts  for  both.  In  this  connection  two  points  need 
emphasis.  In  the  first  place,  it  has  been  shown  that  the  moraines  give  e\idence  of 
interglacial  epochs  alternating  with  glacial  epochs  rather  than  of  a  single  glacial 


A— limestone.    B,  C,  D— successive  fillings  of  gravel. 

Fig.  144.  —  Cross-section  of  the  Ispairan  Valley,  showing  successive  periods  of  cutting 

and  filling. 

period  which  came  to  an  end  with  a  series  of  partial  glacial  retreats  separated  by 
intervals  of  glacial  rest.  The  terraces  show  even  stronger  evidence  of  the  same 
conclusion.  The  deposition  of  gravel  and  broadening  flood-plains  on  the  one 
hand  and  the  cutting  of  narrow  trench-like  valleys  on  the  other  do  not  represent 
successive  stages  of  the  same  kind  of  climate  change ;  they  represent  contrasted 
climatic  conditions — namely,  the  systematic  alternation  of  colder  and  wanner 
climates.  In  the  second  place,  the  terraces  decrease  in  width,  height,  and  preser\^ation 
in  the  same  wa)-  that  the  moraines  decrease  in  size  and  in  the  degree  of  weathering 
and  erosion  to  which  they  have  been  subjected.  In  both  cases  the  oldest  examples 
are  large  and  well  developed,  but  not  ven,-  well  preserved ;  the  others  are  successively 
smaller  and  better  preserved.  All  these  points  of  agreement  increase  the  proba- 
bility that  the  theory  of  a  glacial  period  consisting  of  interglacial  epochs  is  correct. 
One  difficulty  presents  itself — the  number  of  terraces  and  of  moraines  does  not 
always  agree — the  maximum  of  the  one  is  nine,  of  the  other  only  five.  Part  of 
this  discrepancy  is  due,  as  has  been  already  explained,  to  the  fact  that  some  of  the 
terrace  series  are  complicated  by  one  or  two  minor  terraces,  which  seem  to  be  due 
merely  to  ordinan-  swinging  of  the  streams;  but  even  with  due  allowance  for  this 
complication,  there  seems  to  be  some  evidence  of  a  sixth  unexplained  terrace.  It 
may  therefore  be  suggested  that  the  first  of  our  glacial  epochs  was  not  actually  the 
first,  but  merely  the  maximum,  and  was  preceded  by  others  which  have  left  no  trace 
save  in  doubtful  terraces.     This,  however,  is  at  present  pure  conjecture. 


208  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

One  of  the  most  important  points  in  a  further  stndy  of  the  climatic  changes 
of  Turkestan  is  to  establish  the  correlation  between  individual  moraines  of  known 
epoch  and  individual  terraces.  This  seems  to  be  possible,  for  in  man)-  cases  the 
moraines  themselves  are  terraced,  while  elsewhere,  as  in  the  valleys  of  the  Kara 
Kul  Su  and  Mudinim  Su,  moraines  have  been  deposited  upon  terraces.  One  of 
the  most  promisin<j  places  to  study  this  relation  is  in  the  Alai  basin  ;  another,  equally 
good,  though  less  accessible  and  less  beautiful  in  sceuer)-,  is  the  headwaters  of  the 
Narin  River. 

LAKES. 

Evidence  of  climatic  change  has  also  been  found  about  the  lakes  of  Turkestan. 
One  of  these,  Issik  Kul,  has  been  described  by  Professor  Davis  in  his  report  on  the 
first  month  of  our  joxiruey  in  Turkestan.  Another,  Chadir  Kul,  has  been  consid- 
ered in  a  preceding  section  on  the  Tian  Shan.  Both  of  these  are  now  without  outlets, 
although  a  slight  rise  of  the  water  would  cause  them  to  overflow  as  they  have  done 
in  the  past.  A  study  of  their  old  outlets  shows  that  they  have  overflowed  once  or 
twice  at  least,  probably  under  conditions  of  greater  rainfall  than  to-day. 

Two  other  lakes  were  seen,  of  which  only  one,  Kaplan  Kul,  has  an  outlet. 
This  is  an  insignificant  little  sheet  of  water  about  a  mile  long,  lying  at  an  elevation 
of  5,500  feet  on  the  northern  slope  of  the  Alai  JMountains,  30  miles  southeast  of 
Osh.  All  along  the  lake  margin,  especially  on  the  southern  side,  there  is  a  broad 
belt  of  dense  reeds,  12  or  15  feet  high  ;  the  open  water  in  the  middle  seems  to  be 
only  a  foot  or  two  deep,  as  herons  wade  about  in  all  parts  of  it.  The  natives  say 
that  twenty  years  ago  the  lake  was  much  more  extensive  than  now  and  reached 
beyond  the  area  where  the  reeds  at  present  grow — a  statement  which  the  appear- 
ance of  the  shores  amply  supports.  At  the  outlet  a  fair-sized  brook  cascades  over 
3  or  4  feet  of  hard  blue  clay,  the  lake's  own  deposit,  and  flows  away  in  a  little 
channel  10  or  15  feet  deep,  cut  in  fine  gravel  and  clay.  The  lake  basin  is  merely 
a  broadening  of  a  stream  valley  due  to  the  softness  of  certain  red  sandstones. 
Below  what  is  now  the  outlet  of  the  lake  the  soft  strata  are  interrupted  by  a  harder 
band  of  limestone  which  has  prevented  the  stream  from  cutting  rapidly  downward, 
and  thus  gave  it  an  opportunity  to  widen  the  valley  upstream,  while  downstream 
there  is  a  steep  descent  to  another  series  of  soft  beds.  Where  the  valley  crosses  the 
limestone,  and  consequently  is  narrowest,  gravel  was  at  some  time  washed  in  from 
the  valley  sides  in  such  quantities  that  the  slow-moving  stream  could  not  carry  it 
all  away,  and  thus  a  dam  was  fonned,  behind  which  rose  the  lake.  The  formation 
of  the  dam  indicates  a  time  of  more  intense  weathering,  and  therefore  probably 
corresponds  to  the  last  glacial  epoch.  The  barrier  which  confines  the  lake  has  now 
been  almost  ciit  through,  and  in  a  few  years  the  basin  will  again  be  empty. 

Shor  Kul. — The  fourth  lake  (fig.  145),  is  the  most  important  as  an  indicator 
of  climatic  change,  as  it  is  completely  inclosed  by  mountains  and  has  never  had  an 
outlet.  It  lies  at  an  altitude  of  5,000  feet,  80  miles  northeast  of  Kashgar,  in  one 
of  the  subsidiar)'  basins  in  the  borderland  between  the  Tian  Shan  plateau  and  the 
Kashgar  basin.  Shor  Kul,  as  it  is  called,  means  "  Salt  Lake,"  and  the  name  is 
well  deserv^ed,  for  the  lake  is  a  sheet  of  salt  rather  than  of  water.     When  I  saw  it 


RECONNAISSANCE    IN    CENTRAL   TURKESTAN. 


209 


during  an  unusually  rainy  time  in  August,  1903,  it  resembled  a  shallow  pond 
frozen  to  the  bottom  and  then  flooded  by  a  March  thaw  which  covered  the  ice  with 
water.  The  shores  are  composed  of  black,  oozy  mud,  dip])ing  under  the  water  so 
gradually  that  it  is  impossible  to  say  where  the  land  ends.  Close  to  the  edge  of  the 
water  begins  a  sheet  of  salt  resembling  rotten  ice.  At  first  it  consists  of  a  loose 
ma.ss  of  cubical  cnstals  of  pure  transparent  salt,  but  farther  out  this  becomes 
thicker  and  more  solid.  The  natives  say  that  in  dr>-  weather  the  whole  lake  is  a 
mere  sheet  of  salt  on  which  one  can  walk,  although  with  some  danger  of  breaking 
through.  In  the  latter  event  one  finds  pure  salt  as  deep  as  to  the  knee  and  then 
half-liquid  nuick.  The  salt  is  collected  by  the  people  and  is  carried  as  far  as 
Kashgar.     It  is  used  just  as  it  occurs,  without  cleansing. 


Fig.  145. — Shor  Kul,  looking  south. 

A  smooth  plain  about  40  miles  long  and  10  miles  wide  surrounds  the  lake. 
Much  of  it  is  so  level  that  it  forms  a  sort  of  swamp  with  a  thick  growth  of  tamarisks 
and  tall  sword-edged  marsh-grass.  The  surface  of  the  swamp  is  dr}',  except  in 
rainy  weather,  although  in  many  places  there  is  a  bog  below  the  dr\-  surface  cnist. 
The  material  of  the  plain  is  everywhere  a  fine  silt  of  lacustrine  origin  and  full  of 
salt.  Toward  the  edges,  where  the  plain  begins  to  rise,  the  swamji  gradually  gi\-es 
place  to  a  desert.  Still  nearer  to  the  mountains  a  deposit  of  rough  gravel  is 
encroaching  on  the  fine  lake  deposit.  The  gravel  is  the  front  of  a  large  number  of 
broad,  flat  fans  which  drown  the  foot  of  the  naked  mountains  and  have  converted 
some  of  the  lower  spurs  into  islands.  Usually  the  ascent  from  the  lake  to  the 
mountains  across  the  belts  of  swamp,  dt}'  lake  deposit,  and  gravel  fonns  a  smooth 


2IO  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

curve  without  a  trace  of  terracing  or  any  indication  of  old  lake  shorelines.  Here 
and  there,  however,  the  smooth  stretches  of  the  swamp  are  broken  b}'  low,  rounded 
hills  or  by  broad,  flat  tables,  20  to  40  feet  high  and  several  miles  wide,  which  are 
distinguished  by  a  sparse  growth  of  knotted  poplar  trees.  On  the  soft  slopes  of 
these  elevations  are  found  most  of  the  springs  that  make  it  possible  for  the  poor 
Kirghiz  to  inhabit  the  wretched  swamp.  Jai  Tebeh  (Devil  Hill),  at  tlie  western 
end  of  the  lake,  is  one  of  the  best  examples.  Here  on  the  sides  of  a  small  rounded 
hill  five  small  springs  bubble  gently  up  at  heights  of  from  10  to  40  feet  above  the 
green  swamp  which  stretches  for  3  or  4  miles  on  every  side.  The  material  of  the 
hill  and  of  the  swamp  seems  to  be  identical,  although  possibly  that  of  the  hill  is  a 
little  more  sandy.  In  neither  is  there  the  least  sign  of  gravel.  A  few  miles  west 
of  Jai  Tebeh  a  fonnation  of  apparently  the  same  sort  as  tliat  of  the  hill  assumes 
the  shape  which  has  above  been  called  a  table,  although  it  might  better  be  described  as 
a  low  and  xer}'  broad  promontor}'.  It  rises  from  the  swamp  as  a  rude  terrace  with 
an  irregularly  dissected  front,  on  which  there  is  a  suggestion  of  smaller  terraces. 
Near  the  borders  the  top  is  somewhat  rough,  but  it  soon  becomes  very  even  and 
stretches  back  smoothly  toward  the  mountains,  near  the  base  of  which  it  merges 
into  the  slope  that  rises  more  steepl)',  although  still  ver}^  gently,  toward  the 
mountains  from  the  edge  of  the  adjacent  swamp.  On  this  low  promontory-  are 
two  or  three  springs  like  those  of  Jai  Tebeh.  A  few  miles  farther  to  the  west,  at 
Dongjigdeh,  another  hill  stands  in  the  middle  of  the  portion  of  the  swampy  plain 
lying  west  of  the  lake.  The  hill  is  about  40  feet  high  and  has  a  spring  near  the 
top.  Like  Jai  Tebeh,  it  appears  to  be  mostly  made  of  silt,  but  there  are  gravel  and 
some  sand  scattered  here  and  there.  Six  other  streams  were  seen  in  different  parts 
of  the  basin,  welling  up  on  small  hills  at  a  height  of  from  20  to  30  feet  above  the 
surrounding  swamp  or  neighboring  lake.  In  all  the  springs  the  water  was  sweet, 
and  the  material  from  which  they  flowed  was  the  same  silt  as  that  of  the  swamp,  so 
far  as  the  eye  could  detect. 

It  seems  hardly  possible,  however,  that  the  underlying  j^art  of  these  hills  can 
be  composed  of  this  same  silt.  The  one  hill  where  sand  and  gravel  occur  seems  to 
furnish  the  key  to  their  structure,  and  the  suggestion  afforded  b}-  this  one  is  borne 
out  by  evidence  which  will  be  presented  after  the  statement  of  the  conclusion  to 
which  it  leads.  Shor  Kul  appears  to  have  been  twice  expanded  to  a  size  much 
greater  than  that  of  to-day.  At  the  first  of  these  expansions  it  reached  a  height  of 
about  350  feet  above  the  present  water  level.  It  then  retired,  so  that  the  lake 
deposits  were  first  covered  with  sand  and  gravel  and  later  were  well  dissected.  It 
next  rose  again,  although  to  a  less  extent,  and  covered  some  of  the  remnants  of 
the  old  lake  deposits  with  a  new  layer  of  silt  (fig.  146).  The  remnants  of  the 
old  deposits  are  the  hills  and  tables  which  have  already  been  described,  and  which 
are  now  left  exposed  by  a  second  retreat.  The  springs  occur  on  them  because 
the  layer  of  sand  and  gra\-el  on  top  of  the  earlier  lake  beds  is  easily  pervious  to 
water,  while  the  silts  above  and  below  are  impervious.  Consequently  water  from 
the  base  of  the  mountain  beyond  the  end  of  the  silts  gathers  in  the  sand  or  gravel 
and  percolates  gently  downward  toward  the  lake.     In  the  little  hills  the  upper  layer 


RECONNAISSANCE    IN    CENTRAL   TURKESTAN.  211 

of  silt  is  thinner  than  elsewhere  and  has  often  been  broken  through  by  erosion. 
According-ly  at  these  points  the  water  finds  a  ready  exit  and  bubbles  upward  because 
it  is  under  pressure.  It  is,  however,  possible  that  the  deposits  of  which  the  hills 
are  the  remnants  may  belong  to  an  earlier  time  than  that  mentioned  above.  This 
point  and  others  had  to  be  left  unsettled  on  account  of  the  short  time  allowed  for 
the  writer's  journe\-  and  of  the  peculiarh-  unfavorable  conditions  of  xniseasonable 
rain  and  mud  experienced  at  Shor  Kul. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  more  direct  evidence  of  the  double  rise  of  the  lake. 
During  the  first  expansion,  when  the  lake  reached  its  maximum  size,  the  water 
seems  to  have  stood  about  350  feet  above  the  present  level.  On  the  north  side  of 
the  plain,  a  little  below  this  height,  there  is  a  sudden  transition  from  coarse,  angular 
gravel  to  the  finest  silt  without  a  trace  of  pebbles.  The  gravel  is  subaerial  waste 
of  the  normal  type  for  an  arid  mountain  region,  and  is  now  being  slowly  pushed 
forward  over  the  silt.  The  silt  could  hardly  have  been  deposited  an^-where  except 
iu  a  lake,  for  under  almost  any  conditions  of  climate  some  gravel  would  be  included 
in  a  deposit  so  close  to  the  base  of  the  mountains,  unless  it  was  laid  down  a  little 
offshore  in  standing  water.  At  the  west  end  of  the  plain,  southwest  of  Kirk 
Bulak,  there  is  at  the  same  350-foot  level  a  small  bench  and  cliff,  cut  for  about  half 
a  mile  in  the  silty  grav'el  which  there  cloaks  the  mountain  flanks.  At  the  opposite 
end,  near  Pchan,  a  large  compound  fan  of  gravel  has  cloaked  the  lake  silts  smoothly 
as  high  as  130  feet  above  the  present  lake  level ;  but  at  an  ele\ation  nearly  400  feet 
from  the  water  the  gravel  has  a  different  fonn.  At  the  lower  le\el  the  gravel  cloak 
is  spread  smoothh-  and  the  streams  wander  across  it  in  numerous  shallow  and  e\-er- 
changing  channels.  Above  a  height  of  400  feet  the  gravel  is  well  dissected,  and 
each  stream  has  a  single,  definite  terraced  valley. 

On  the  south  side  of  the  lake  the  plain  rises  more  rapidly  and  the  old  lacustrine 
deposits  are  considerably  dissected,  perhaps  because  of  a  slight  warping.  Never- 
theless there  are  the  same  lacustrine  silts  and  subaerial  gravels  as  on  the  north  side, 
and  the  silts  end  at  about  the  same  height,  that  is,  a  little  over  350  feet  above  the 
lake.  Elsewhere  old  lake  silts  are  found  up  to  a  height  of  200  or  300  feet  abo\e 
the  water,  where  they  begin  to  be  covered  with  gra\el.  It  seems  quite  clear  that 
the  lake  once  stood  300  or  400  feet  higher  than  to-day. 

At  a  place  called  Dungsugot,*  on  the  .south  side  of  the  plain,  4  or  5  miles 
from  the  western  end  of  the  lake,  there  is  good  evidence  of  a  second  rise  of  the 
lake  separated  from  the  first  rise  by  a  period  when  the  water  retreated  nearly  or 
quite  to  the  present  level.  Here  the  older  lake  deposit  is  considerably  dissected 
(fig.  148),  probably  because  the  slope  of  its  surface  is  much  stee{)er  than  elsewhere. 
The  valleys  car\-ed  in  the  deposits  show  three  terraces  which  extend  out  to  the 
fronts  of  the  spurs,  and  even  around  them,  from  valley  to  valley.  The  spurs  are 
flat-topped  and  for  the  most  part  are  made  of  lacustrine  silt.  On  the  top,  however, 
is  a  layer  of  gravel  only  a  few   inches  thick  at  first,  but  gradually  increasing  in 


*Tlierc  is  a  spring  at  Dungsugot  where  a  camp  could  be  made  from  whicli  the  terraces  and  lake 
deposits  could  be  minutely  studied.  Fodder  for  horses  would  probably  have  to  be  brought  from 
one  of  the  villages  6  or  8  miles  away. 


212 


EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 


thickness  toward  the  inouiitains.  The  gravel  extends  down  the  slopes  of  the 
terraces  (fig.  146),  but  at  the  bottom  it  is  abruptly  covered  by  another  deposit  of 
lacustrine  silt.  On  the  latter  there  is  nowhere  any  gravel  except  in  places  where 
it  is  now  creeping  down  from  the  terraces,  or  where  a  stream  comes  out  from  the 
mountains  and  is  now  covering  its  broad  flood-plain  with  a  thin  coating  of  pebbles. 


A=bed-rock.  B=lake  silt  of  350-foot  level.  C=first  terrace  and  layer  of  gravel  coveriug  silt. 
D=second  terrace.  E=third  terrace.  F=liill  with  springs.  G=lake  silt  of  100-foot  level. 
H^lake.    I=edge  of  mountains. 

Fig.   146. — North  and  south  section  of  the  plain  of  Shor  Kul  from  the  lake  lo  the  mountains  at  Dungsugot, 

In  the  valleys  the  lower  terraces  are  not  cut  in  silt,  as  is  the  case  on  the  fronts  of  the 
spurs  toward  the  lake,  but  in  gravel  deposited  in  the  valley  after  it  had  been  cut 
below  its  present  depth  (fig.  147).  The  reader  will  at  once  perceive  that  fig.  147 
is  almost  identical  with  the  cross-section  of  the  Ispairan  Valley  (fig.  144),  and  will 
doubtless  infer,  as  the  writer  does,  that  both  are  the  effect  of  a  similar  series  of 
climatic  changes. 


Fig.  147. — Cross-section  of  a  Valley  cut  in  the  silt  at  Dungsugot.     For  explanation  see  fig.  146. 

mh  All  the  phenomena  of  Shor  Kul  are  satisfactorily  accounted  for  by  the  same 
theory-  which  explains  the  old  moraines  and  the  terraces.  The  earliest  record  of  the 
lake  was  at  the  stage  of  greatest  expansion ;  the  silts  of  the  350-foot  level  were 
then  laid  down.  Later  the  climatic  conditions  changed,  so  that  the  lake  shrunk 
almost,  if  not  quite,  to  its  present  size.  Gravel  at  once  began  to  creep  forward 
over  the  silt,  and,  as  the  surface  was  very  smooth,  the  streams  wandered  widely  and 
covered  the  whole  lacustrine  plain  with  a  layer  of  pebbles.  In  time,  however,  the 
amount  of  waste  from  the  mountains  grew  less  under  the  influence  of  the  changed 


RECONNAISSANCE   IN    CENTRAL   TURKESTAN. 


213 


climate.  The  load  of  the  streams  was  correspondingly  decreased,  and  they  cut 
downward  nntil  the  relief  was  like  that  which  is  represented  by  the  outer  valley  cut 
in  the  silt  (B,  fig.  147).  At  the  same  time  the  front  of  the  old  silts  was  being 
gnawed  back  and  the  slope  was  being  prepared  on  which  the  terraces  (fig.  146)  were 
later  cut.  The  surface  of  the  old  lake  deposit  must  originally  have  presented  an 
unbroken  slope  (I  H  in  fig.  146).  The  bed  of  the  stream,  the  lower  dotted  line, 
I  B  H,  must  have  presented  an  equally  smooth  although  more  concave  slope.  The 
two  must  ha\e  met  at  the  lake  shore  when  the  water  was  at  its  lowest  level.  Even 
the  most  cursory  inspection  of  the  valleys  and  spurs  shows  that  this  point  of  meet- 
ing must  have  been  far  out  in  the  swamp  close  to  the  present  shoreline.  Therefore 
the  lake  must  have  been  small  and  shallow,  and  the  climate  must  have  been  similar 
to  that  of  to-day  or  possibly  even  drier. 


Fig.  148. — The  gravel-covered    lacustrine  deposits  at  Dungsugot,  illustrating  the  same  features  as  the 
preceding  diagrams.     For  explanation  see  fig.  146. 

The  next  changes  were  those  recorded  in  the  terraces  and  in  the  graxel  which 
fills  the  valleys  represented  in  fig.  147.  It  is  easy  to  infer  that  the  lake  must  have 
risen  and  fallen  twice,  and  that  each  rise  was  associated  with  the  fonnation  of  a 
terrace  and  with  the  partial  filling  of  the  valleys  with  gravel,  but  of  this  we  have 
as  yet  no  direct  evidence.  The  ne.xt  rise  of  the  lake  of  which  we  have  positive 
proof  was  probably  also  the  last.  It  deposited  the  recent  silts  (G,  figs.  146  and 
148),  which  rise  to  a  height  of  100  feet  and  bur)-  not  only  the  foot  of  the  tenaces, 
but  also  the  isolated  hills  on  which  well  up  the  springs  of  sweet  water  in  the  midst 
of  the  salt  swamp.  Now  a  last  change  of  climate  has  again  reduced  the  lake  to  verj- 
small  proportions. 


214  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

Although  we  do  not  find  in  the  historj'  of  Shor  Kul  a  complete  series  of  records 
to  match  all  the  changes  of  climate  inferred  from  the  stud\-  of  the  old  moraines,  we 
find  no  records  inconsistent  with  such  changes  and  many  confinnator)-  of  them. 
The  essential  features  of  our  glacial  theorj-  are  that  a  number  of  cold  or  glacial 
epochs  were  separated  by  wanner  interglacial  epochs,  when  the  climate  was  approxi- 
mately like  that  of  to-day,  and  that  these  epochs  decreased  in  severity  and  length 
from  fust  to  last.  The  retreat  of  the  lake  between  the  two  epochs  of  unequal 
expansion  supports  this  most  clearly.  Further  study  will  probably  show  that  the 
past  oscillations  of  the  lake  agree  even  more  perfectly  with  those  of  the  glaciers. 
.\t  present  only  a  tentative  correlation  of  lacustrine  and  glacial  epochs  is  possible. 
The  silts  of  the  upper  lake  level  may  represent  either  or  l:)oth  of  the  first  two 
glacial  epochs  ;  the  cutting  of  the  deepest  valle}-  in  them  represents  the  succeeding 
wanner  interglacial  epoch  ;  the  third  and  fourth  epochs,  glacial  and  interglacial,  are 
perhaps  represented  by  the  gravel  filling  and  the  terraces,  respectively,  which  lie  in 
the  deep  valley.  The  fifth  glacial  epoch  seems  to  correspond  to  the  rise  of  the  lake 
to  the  lOO-foot  level,  and  the  present  retreat  of  the  ice  to  the  present  retreat  of  the 
water. 

SUMMARY. 

In  our  review  of  the  history  of  Central  Turkestan,  from  Paleozoic  times  down 
to  the  present,  we  have  found  that  the  greater  changes  ha\-e  on  the  whole  affected 
the  entire  country  rather  than  small  areas.  Uniformity  has  been  the  rule.  During 
the  Paleozoic  era  the  entire  region  was  submerged  beneath  the  sea  and  the  deposi- 
tion of  calcareous  strata  was  long-continued.  After  the  latter  had  attained  a  great 
thickness  tectonic  movements  began  on  a  large  scale  and  continued  until  the  lime- 
stones had  been  closely  folded  and  mountains  had  been  fonned,  which  were  worn 
away  during  the  first  part  of  the  succeeding  era.  The  Mesozoic  and  Tertiary  eras 
are  not  sharply  separated  and  must  be  considered  together.  Throughout  the  greater 
part  of  these  eras  tenestrial  conditions  prevailed,  with  the  deposition  of  strata 
characteristic  of  interior  basins,  namely,  conglomerates,  cross-bedded  sandstones, 
and  silts,  which  appear  to  be  vast  playa  deposits.  Most  of  the  strata  are  without 
fossils,  and  in  this  and  other  ways  suggest  that  the  climate  was  dr)-  and  that  desert 
conditions  prevailed  more  or  less  extensively.  Only  once  during  this  long  period 
did  the  sea  encroach  on  the  land.  This  was  at  the  end  of  the  Mesozoic  era,  when 
limestones  and  marls  were  laid  down  in  what  seems  to  have  been  a  sea  of  somewhat 
fluctuating  depth.  It  is  not  impossible  that  between  the  Mesozoic  and  Tertiary 
eras  there  were  world-wide  movements  which  elsewhere  caused  uplift  and  erosion, 
followed  by  unconfonnable  deposition ;  but  here  the  movements  of  this  time  caused 
encroachment  of  the  sea  and  deposition.  In  the  basin  region  of  America  the 
Mesozoic  and  Tertiary  eras  present  a  succession  of  strata  notably  similar  to  those  of 
Central  Asia.  The  resemblance  is  so  marked  and  extends  so  far  into  details  that 
it  can  scarcely  be  the  result  of  chance.  It  suggests  that  interior  arid  basins  which 
to<lay  resemble  one  another  have  long  resembled  one  another  and  have  passed 
through  a  similar  succession  of  changes. 


RECONNAISSANCE    IN    CENTRAL   TURKESTAN.  21 5 

By  the  end  of  the  Tertiar>'  era  erosion  and  deposition  had  so  far  lowered  the 
mountains  and  filled  the  basins  that  the  countr>'  was  in  a  stage  of  late  maturity  or 
even  of  old  age.  Considerable  warping  had  taken  place  during  the  preceding 
period,  and  perhaps  was  still  going  on,  but  the  rate  was  so  slow  that  even  the 
languid  erosion  of  late  maturity  was  able  to  keep  pace  with  it.  At  the  beginning 
of  the  Quaternary  era,  however,  there  was  a  revival  of  internal  activity  which 
manifested  itself  chiefly  along  the  lines  of  movement  of  earlier  times.  Warping 
and  .some  faulting  then  took  place  so  rapidly  and  so  recently  that  the  forms  to  which 
they  gave  rise  still  dominate  the  topography,  and  the  effects  of  erosion  are  chiefly 
noticeable  in  the  young  valleys.  By  these  movements  Central  Turkestan  was 
divided  into  its  present  physiographic  provinces.  One  province,  the  Tian  Shan 
plateau,  is  essentially  a  broad,  flattened  arch,  on  the  top  of  which  a  number  of 
minor  warpings  give  rise  to  lofty  plateau-like  ridges  surrounding  elevated  basins. 
A  second  province,  the  Alai  Mountains,  is  a  similar  arch,  except  that  it  is  narrower 
and  lacks  the  minor  comigations  on  the  top.  Both  of  these  provinces  are  char- 
acterized by  very  precipitous  young  valleys,  between  which  are  tilted  and  well- 
preserved  portions  of  the  Tertiary  penepJain.  The  two  other  provinces  are  basins, 
those  of  Kashgar  and  Fergana,  the  flat  floors  of  which  have  for  ages  been  regions 
of  deposition.  In  the  Fergana  basin  deposition  has  for  the  present  ceased,  but  in 
the  Kashgar  basin  it  is  still  progressing  actively. 

The  recent  geological  history  of  Central  Asia  has  been  controlled  b\-  a  series 
of  climatic  oscillations  between  conditions  of  relative  warmth  to  those  of  relative 
frigidity.  Evidence  of  these  changes  is  found  in  phenomena  of  three  distinct  types 
associated  with  the  headwaters,  the  tnmks,  and  the  lower  ends  of  the  rivers.  In 
the  high  mountains  many  headwater  streams  flow  from  glaciers  which  in  ancient 
times  were  much  expanded  so  as  to  deposit  moraines  at  considerable  distances  down 
the  valleys.  The  moraines  show  that  the  ice  advanced  five  times  during  as  many 
glacial  epochs,  and  that  between  the  advances  there  were  epochs  of  retreat  which 
must  have  been  almost  as  warm  as  the  present,  if  not  wanner.  The  moraines 
further/ show  that  the  glacial  epochs  steadily  decreased  in  intensity-  from  first  to  last, 
and,  although  less  clearly,  that  the  interglacial  epochs  correspondingly  decreased  in 
length.  Along'their  middle  course  the  streams,  almost  without  exception,  flow  in 
terraced  valleys.  The  only  adequate  explanation  for  these  seems  to  be  a  series  of 
decreasing  climatic  oscillations  from  cold  epochs  on  the  one  hand,  when  increased 
weathering  overloaded  the  streams  and  caused  them  to  aggrade  and  broaden  their 
\alleys,  to  warm  epochs  on  the  other  hand,  when  the  streams  cut  narrow  canyons 
in  the  bottoms  of  the  previously  formed  flood-jilains,  thus  jiroducing  terraces.  The 
number  of  the  terraces  does  not  agree  precisely  with  the  number  of  the  old 
moraines,  but  the  disagreement  is  easily  explicable  by  a  simple  expansion  of  tlie 
theory  of  climatic  changes  so  that  it  shall  include  a  series  of  increasingly  severe 
glacial  epochs  preceding  the  epochs  of  the  decreasing  series.  In  other  respects  the 
agreement  of  the  terraces  and  the  moraines  seems  \-er\'  close.  The  fonner  as  \\cll 
as  the  latter  indicate  not  only  that  there  were  oscillations  from  one  extreme  of 
climate  to  the  other,  but  lliat  in  intensity  as  well  as  in  length  each  succeeding 
period  was  less  than  its  predecessor,  for  the  terraces  decrease  steadily  in  breadth  and 


2l6  EXPLORATIONS    IN    TURKESTAN. 

heif^lit.  Where  lakes  are  found  at  the  lower  euds  of  rivers,  they  show  changes  of 
level  that  are  only  explicable  on  the  theory  of  climatic  oscillations  of  decreasing 
intensity.  Only  two  of  these  have  been  clearly  identified,  but  there  is  some  indi- 
cation of  a  lar<,'er  munber,  and  it  is  entirely  possible  that  further  obser\-ation  will 
show  that  the  lakes  clianged  as  often  as  the  glaciers  and  the  rivers.  When  the 
glaciers  advanced  and  built  their  moraines,  the  rivers  swung  laterally,  aggrading 
and  broadening  their  valleys,  and  the  lakes  expanded  and  spread  their  silts.  When 
the  glaciers  retired  the  streams  cut  gorges  and  the  lakes  contracted. 

The  es.sential  point  in  our  study  of  the  recent  geological  histor)'  of  Turkestan 
is  this  :  From  three  separate  lines  of  reasoning,  based  on  the  allied  yet  distinct 
phenomena  of  glaciation,  terracing,  and  lake  expansion,  we  arrive  at  the  same  con- 
clusion, namely,  that  during  the  Quaternary-  era  there  have  been  a  number  of  colder 
or  glacial  epochs,  five  or  more,  separated  by  wanner  interglacial  epochs  when  the 
climate  was  similar  to  that  of  to-day  ;  and  further,  that  these  epochs  progressively 
decreased  in  length  and  intensity. 

When  a  single  theory-  fits  all  the  facts  of  a  single  series  of  phenomena,  it 
becomes  probable;  when  it  fits  the  facts  of  three  distinct  series  of  phenomena,  it 
becomes  highly  probable ;  and  when  it  fits  the  facts  of  several  continent';,  it  becomes 
in  a  ver^'  high  degree  probable.  Much  confidence  is  therefore  felt  in  the  theon,- 
above  announced.  It  is  yet  to  be  applied  to  the  basins  of  the  Caspian  and  Aral 
seas  on  the  west.  A  most  interesting  additional  step  would  be  to  see  if  the  theory 
is  capable  of  explaining  the  great  basin  deposits  of  Central  Asia  which  lie  to  the 
east  of  the  region  here  described. 


TURKESTAN 


Route  ofihe  aitlhor 


MAP   OP^   IRAN' 

SCALE    OF    MILES 


o 


The  Basin  of  Eastern  Persia  and  Sistan. 


By  ELLSWORTH  HUNTINGTON, 
Carnegie  Research  Assistant. 


217 


The  Basin  of  Eastern  Persia  and  Sistan. 


By  Ellsworth  Huntington, 

Carnegie  Research  Assistant. 


INTRODUCTION. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  work  of  our  expedition  in  Central  Asia  it  became 
evident  that  the  problem  of  the  plnsical  changes  which  ha\-e  taken  place  in  the 
Caspian  basin  since  the  advent  of  man  is  so  complicated  as  to  require  the  work  of 
many  years  for  its  solution.  It  also  became  evident  that  if  the  historj-  of  the  chief 
changes  could  be  ascertained  in  smaller  neighboring  basins  where  there  was  reason 
to  suppose  that  a  similar  series  of  events  has  taken  place,  the  elucidation  of  the 
Caspian  problem  would  be  greatly  facilitated.  Accordingly,  during  the  summer  of 
1903  our  attention  was  turned  to  Issik  Kul  and  the  mountains  of  Turkestan;  and 
later,  on  the  approach  of  winter,  I  was  dispatched  southward  to  the  renrarkable  basin 
of  Sistan,  in  Eastern  Persia.  Not  onh-  the  basin,  but  the  countn,-  traversed  in 
reaching  it,  proved  to  be  full  of  e\idences  of  very  recent  changes  in  physical  condi- 
tions, and  the  time-scale  established  by  their  means  is  applicable  in  a  large  degree 
to  the  Caspian  region,  for  the  main  line  of  evidence,  the  terraced  character  of 
mountain  valleys,  is  found  abundantly  in  both  the  Sistan  and  Caspian  basins. 

The  records  of  antiquity  and  the  work  of  previous  explorers  make  it  certain 
that  both  basins  have  long  been  inhabited  and  that  their  present  sparsely  populated 
condition  is  essentially  different  from  that  of  the  past.  The  question  to  be  answered 
is  whether  this  condition  is  due  to  purely  human  causes,  such  as  the  deca\-  of  races 
wars,  famine,  deforestation,  and  the  exhaustion  of  the  soil  by  prolonged  culti\ation 
on  the  one  hand,  or  whether  it  is  due  to  physical  causes,  such  as  changes  of  climate, 
the  warping  of  the  earth's  crust  into  higher  mountains  and  deeper  basins,  the  natural 
changes  of  the  course  and  volume  of  rivers,  and  the  encroachment  of  sand-dunes 
on  the  other.  Before  this  can  be  answered  the  human  histor\-  of  the  countn,-  must 
be  more  carefully  elucidated  by  archeological  work  and  the  physical  history  by 
geographic  work. 

In  the  pursuit  of  the  latter  object,  under  the  direction  of  Professor  Davis,  the 
problem  resolved  itself  into  two  parts,  namely,  the  physical  historj-  of  Central  Asia 
in  recent  times  as  influenced  by  internal  or  terrestrial  causes,  such  as  the  warping 
of  mountains  and  the  deepening  of  basins,  and  the  histor}-  as  influenced  by  external 
causes,  such  as  changes  of  climate.  The  studies  of  a  year  and  a  half  have  led  me  to 
think  that  while  numerous  crustal  movements  furnish  al)undant  e\idences  of  the 
earth's  internal  activity  during  ver>-  recent  geological  times,  most  of  the  movements 
are  too  ancient  to  be  connected  with  human  history  and  too  local  to  have  produced 

219 


220  THE   BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND    SISTAN. 

nniforni  changes  over  broad  areas.  Nevertheless,  the  purpose  of  our  expedition 
can  not  be  achieved  until  we  possess  such  a  knowledge  of  the  movements  of  tlie 
earth's  crust  in  Asia  during  recent  geological  times  as  shall  enable  us  with  certainty 
to  estimate  their  possible  effect  upon  early  man.  I  have  therefore  recorded  all 
the  data  on  this  subject  which  came  under  my  observation.  Moreover,  as  my 
journey  led  through  an  unknown  country,  I  have  thought  it  advi.sable  to  record 
certain  geological  facts  relating  to  earlier  times. 

In  Asia,  as  in  liurope  and  North  America,  the  main  events  of  that  part  of 
recent  geological  time  which  immediately  precedes  and  includes  early  man  seem  to 
have  been  due  to  changes  of  climate.  Evidences  of  this  are  found  abundantly  in 
Persia,  Transcaspia,  and  Turkestan.  It  is  therefore  of  first  importance  to  ascer- 
tain the  exact  sequence  and  degree  of  each  change  and  the  dates  of  the  later  changes 
in  relation  to  the  origin  of  man,  and  accordingly  the  main  jjortion  of  this  rejMrt  is 
concerned  with  the  evidences  of  climatic  change  in  Persia,  and  with  an  attempt  to 
fonn  a  tentative  scheme  of  the  physical  history-  of  the  countr>'  during  Quaternary 
times.  The  influence  of  climate,  and  especially  the  physiographic  results  of  climatic 
changes  in  nonglaciated  regions,  are  so  little  known  that  it  has  seemed  necessary-  to 
devote  some  attention  to  a  theoretical  examination  of  these  questions.  Accordingly 
this  report  is  in  the  main  a  study  of  the  influence  of  climate  and  of  climatic  change 
in  Persia.  When  this  influence  is  understood,  and  when  the  sequence  of  events 
shall  have  been  clearly  made  out,  we  shall  be  in  a  position  to  determine  the  relation 
of  physiography  to  climate  in  Persia  and  to  apply  our  results  to  the  larger  problem 
of  Western  and  Central  Asia. 

ROUTE. 

Between  the  high  mountains  of  Central  Afghanistan  on  the  east  and  the  fearful 
salt  wastes  of  Eastern  Persia  on  the  west  lies  a  dreary  region  of  naked  mountain 
range,  huge  fans  of  rough  gravel,  and  level  basins  floored  with  fine  silt.  At  the 
northern  end  of  this  region  the  Heri  Rud,  the  river  of  Herat,  furnishes  life  to  the 
towns  and  villages  of  Herat,  Serakhs,  and  Tejen,  while  to  the  south  the  half-mythical 
Helmund,  before  losing  itself  in  the  immense  swamp  of  the  Hamun-i-Sistan,  sup- 
ports the  inimerous  villages  of  the  province  of  Sistan.  Between  these  two  rivers 
the  lowlands  are  absolute  deserts,  while  the  uplands  above  an  altitude  of  4,000  feet 
are  sparsely  studded  with  villages  located  at  the  bases  of  the  higher  mountains,  where 
water  can  be  procured. 

Across  this  inhospitable  region  lies  the  route  from  Transcaspia  to  Sistan.  (See 
map.)  Through  the  courtesy  of  General  Ussakovsky,  governor  of  the  Russian 
pro\ince  of  Transcaspia,  to  whom  our  expedition  is  indebted  for  many  favors,  I 
was  allowed  to  follow  the  Russo-Persian  frontier  and  to  stop  at  militar>-  posts  to 
which  foreigners  are  not  usually  given  access.  Starting  from  Askhabad,  the  capital 
of  Transcaspia,  November  23,  1903, 1  proceeded  eastward  along  the  southern  border 
of  the  province  to  Serakhs,  at  the  northeastern  corner  of  Persia.  There  I  was 
joined  by  Mr.  V.  G.  Yanchevetzki,  secretary  for  special  affairs  to  the  governor  of 
Transcaspia,  and  the  rest  of  the  journey  was  made  in  his  company.     To  him,  in 


ROUTE.  22 1 

large  measure,  is  due  the  success  of  our  three  months'  journey  in  a  couutr}-  where 
travel  is  not  only  difficult,  but  sometimes  dangerous.  His  presence  was  especially 
acceptable  because  of  his  unfailing  good  humor  under  trying  circumstances  and 
his  kindness  in  conforming  his  plans  to  the  whims  of  a  geographer.  Leaving 
Serakhs  December  4,  we  crossed  into  Persia  and  spent  the  next  month,  till  January-  i, 
in  tra\-eling  as  nearly  as  possible  straight  southward  along  the  Afghan-Persian 
boundar\',  past  the  playa  of  Khaf  to  the  oasis  and  swamp  of  Sistan.  At  the  latter 
place  we  remained  till  February  5,  raitch  of  the  time  as  the  guests  of  Dr.  .\.  J. 
Miller,  the  Russian  consul,  to  whom  my  heartiest  thanks  are  due.  Not  onlj-  did  he 
entertain  us  most  hospitabh-,  but  through  his  help  it  was  possible  to  see  in  a  short 
time  the  most  important  parts  of  the  interesting  region  of  Sistan.  From  the  Russian 
consulate  as  a  center,  trips  of  from  four  to  eleven  days'  length  were  made  in  all 
directions.  During  a  part  of  our  stay  in  Sistan  I  was  the  guest  of  the  British 
officers  connected  with  the  Sistan  Arbitration  Commission,  and  the  time  so  spent 
was  as  valuable  scientifically  as  it  was  pleasant  socially.  In  spite  of  his  pressing 
political  and  military  duties.  Col.  G.  H.  McMahon,  the  British  commissioner  who 
is  settling  the  disputed  boundan,-  between  Persia  and  Afghanistan,  finds  time  for  an 
enthusiastic  study  of  the  ph\siography  of  the  new  region  to  which  his  work  brings 
him.  To  him  and  to  his  assistants,  Mr.  G.  P.  Tate,  topographer,  and  Mr.  T.  R.  J. 
Ward,  irrigation  officer,  I  am  indebted  for  information  and  suggestions  of  the 
greatest  value,  to  which  I  shall  ha\e  occasion  to  refer  later.  Our  return  journey 
from  Sistan  to  Transcaspia  lasted  from  Februar}^  5  to  March  13.  It  was  made  in 
a  northwesterly  direction,  by  way  of  Birjand,  Tun,  Turbat-i-Haideri,  and  Meshed,  to 
Askhabad.  Ever>-where  we  received  the  most  hearty  hospitality  and  read\-  help 
from  both  Briti.sh  and  Russian  consular  officials,  to  all  of  whom  thanks  are  due. 

LITERATURE. 

Few  travelers  have  penetrated  eastern  Persia,  partly  because  of  its  remoteness 
and  parth-  because  it  offers  few  attractions  in  the  way  of  scenerj-,  historic  cities, 
game  for  the  hunter,  or  people  with  picturesque  dress  and  manners.  Most  of  the 
foreigners  who  traverse  the  country-  are  bound  on  business,  usually  official,  and 
follow  the  easiest  and  most  frequented  route  through  the  mountains,  where  villages 
are  numerous.  This  route,  which  leads  from  Meshed,  by  way  of  Birjand  or  Khaf,  to 
Sistan,  is,  indeed,  the  only  important  road  that  leads  far  south  in  Eastern  Persia. 
Other  routes  have  been  followed  chiefly  by  British  officers  who  were  studving  the 
country  from  a  military-  point  of  view  either  as  surveyors  or  consuls,  or  as  members 
of  the  various  bonndan-  commissions  whose  thankless  task  has  been  the  demarca- 
tion of  the  boundaries  of  Persia,  Afghanistan,  and  Baluchistan.  These  officers  and 
a  few  \enturesome  travelers  have  written  almost  the  only  accounts  of  Eastern  Persia 
which  we  possess.  The  majorit\-  of  the  accounts  are  geographic  in  the  sense  that 
they  describe  the  country  and  people  with  great  accuracy  of  detail,  but  all  of  them 
fall  short  of  the  modern  geographic  ideal  in  that  they  contiiin  little  save  empirical 
accounts  of  isolated  facts  encountered  along  the  line  of  the  author's  route  without 
reference  to  any  underlying  scheme  of  geographic  classification.     The  best  of  these 


222  THE    BASIN    OF    EASTERN    PERSIA    AND    SISTAN. 

books,  and  also  the  most  recent,  is  that  of  Major  Sykes,  "Ten  Thousand  Miles  in 
Persia,"  a  work  which  embodies  a  vast  amount  of  careful  observation  and  record, 
supplemented  by  most  painstaking  research.  To  it  and  to  others  of  the  same  class 
which  are  noted  in  the  bibliography  at  the  end  of  this  report,  I  shall  have  more  or 
less  occasion  to  refer.  Lord  Curzon's  "  Persia  "  stands  easily  first  among  books  on 
the  country  as  a  whole,  but  unfortunately  it  deals  but  briefly  with  the  eastern  part 
of  the  Shah's  dominion,  and  hence  will  be  referred  to  but  little.  Of  books  by  pro- 
fessional geographers  or  geologists,  there  is,  so  far  as  I  know,  not  one  which  deals 
with,  Sistan  and  the  most  important  parts  of  Eastern  Persia.  Hlanford,  liowever, 
over  thirty  years  ago,  traversed  the  neighboring  regions  to  the  south  and  west,  and 
has  given  ns  the  result  of  his  observations  and  studies  in  a  valuable  review  of  the 
geology  of  Persia  as  a  whole,  and  in  a  masterly  essay  on  that  most  striking  of  Persian 
physiographic  phenomena,  the  huge  gravel  fans  at  the  base  of  the  mountains. 
More  recently  Vredenburg  has  written  a  geological  account  of  the  portions  of  Balu- 
chistan to  the  south  and  east  of  Sistan.  His  facts  are  valualjle,  althougli  some  of 
liis  conclusions  are  open  to  question.  In  addition  to  the  classes  of  books  already 
named  there  are  several  accounts  of  Eastern  Persia  wliich  are  mere  travelers'  tales  of 
the  most  ephemeral  interest.  The  books  of  all  classes,  so  far  as  I  have  consulted 
them,  are  mentioned  in  the  bibliography  at  the  end  of  this  report,  although  not  all 
are  referred  to  in  the  text.  As  an  aid  to  future  students  a  brief  comment  on  the 
nature  of  the  work  is  appended  to  each  title  in  tlie  bibliography. 

OUTLINE  OF  THE  FOLLOWING  REPORT. 

Eastern  Persia  is  one  of  the  most  desolate  lands  in  the  world.  The  chief  cause 
of  its  desolation  is  aridity,  due  in  the  first  place  to  the  countr>-'s  continental  position 
and  in  the  second  to  its  basin  character.  As  a  result  of  Persia's  continental  position 
the  prevailing  northwest  winds  which  blow  across  it  have  not  only  alread)-  traversed 
witle  stretches  of  land  and  been  deprived  of  most  of  their  moisture,  l:)ut  the)-  are  con- 
tinually advancing  into  more  heated  regions  and  thus  becoming  wanner  and  less 
ready  to  part  with  moisture.  The  basin  character  of  the  country  tends  to  increase 
the  dryness  of  the  interior ;  for  the  mountains  which  snn"onnd  the  basin  are  for  the 
most  part  lofty  and  cau.se  the  precipitation  of  whatever  moisture  the  winds  may 
still  contain  after  their  long  journey  from  the  sea,  so  that  almo.st  nothing  is  left  for 
the  inner  regions. 

Eastern  Persia,  northwestern  Baluchi.stan,  and  southwestern  Afghanistan  are 
all  included  in  the  basin  which  has  just  been  mentioned.  Close  to  the  eastern 
border  of  Persia  this  basin  of  Iran,  as  it  is  called,  is  divided  into  two  snl)sidiary 
basins  by  a  range  of  mountains  running  north  and  south.  (See  sketch  map,  fig. 
152.)  East  of  the  range,  and  complementar)'  to  it,  lies  a  remarkable  dejires- 
sion  containing  the  Heri  Rud  River  and  four  large  hollows  containing  playas  or 
saline  swamps.  (See  map  at  end  of  volume.)  Although  the  geological  history  of 
the  countr}'  is  imperfectly  known,  the  unconformability  between  Tertiary-  deposits  of 
continental  or  estuarine  origin  and  Cretaceous  deposits  of  marine  origin  shows  that 
Iran  began  to  assume  its  present  basin  form  far  back  in  the  Tertiary  era.     Since 


OUTLINE   OF   THE    REPORT.  223 

that  time  minor  l)asiiis  have  been  produced  within  the  greater  basins.  Throughout 
the  Tertiary  era  and  perhaps  even  during  Quaternary  times  the  basins  ha\-e  been  the 
receptacle  of  the  waste  from  the  mountains,  which  has  now  deeph-  filled  their  lower 
portions.  The  waste  thus  deposited  lies  horizontal  in  the  centers  of  the  basins,  but 
is  warped  along  the  edges,  the  older  strata  being  more  warped  than  the  younger. 
Apparently  the  basins  have  been  subjected  to  a  gradual  process  of  intensification  by 
which  they  have  become  deeper,  while  their  edges  have  been  folded  and  uplifted. 

The  large  basin  of  Iran,  with  its  rim  of  lofty  mountains,  is  a  typical  example 
of  long-continued  erosion  and  deposition  in  a  mountainous  plateau  under  arid 
conditions.  The  traveler  is  wearied  by  an  endless  repetition  of  naked  mountains 
vising  on  the  edges,  or  even  in  the  midst  of  smoothly-floored  basins,  in  which  the 
streams  have  for  ages  deposited  waste  from  the  mountains.  In  the  centers  of  many 
basins  stretch  vast  playas,  whose  smooth  expanse  is  often  covered  with  salt.  Where 
water  is  more  scarce  fields  of  drifting  sand  move  slowly  forward,  while  between 
the  barren  mountains  and  the  plains  gently  sloping  fans  of  gravel  merge  into  level 
sand  and  silt  on  the  one  hand,  while  on  the  other  they  mantle  the  flanks  of  the 
ridges,  and  even  overtop  the  pa.sses,  uniting  one  basin  to  another.  What  few 
streams  there  are  flow  toward  the  basin  centers  in  terraced  valleys,  and  often  the 
shores  of  the  playas  and  lakes  are  also  terraced. 

No  one,  however  unobservant,  can  fail  to  be  struck  by  the  contrast  between 
the  physical  features  of  Persia  and  those  of  the  well-watered  countries  of  Europe 
and  America.  The  only  competent  cause  for  this  difference  seems  to  be  that  the 
climate  in  the  two  regions  is  different.  It  is  often  assumed  that  the  presence  of 
inclosed  basins,  such  as  those  of  Persia,  is  due  to  some  special  variety  of  warping 
of  the  earth's  crust.  That  the  basins  are  due  to  warping  can  hardly  be  doubted, 
but  there  seems  to  be  no  reason  for  thinking  that  the  warping  is  of  a  peculiar  sort. 
The  mountain  building  of  the  Al])s  and  the  Himalayas  must  have  given  rise  to 
basins  just  as  did  the  mountain-building  of  Persia  and  of  the  basin  region  of 
North  America.  The  present  diflerences  are  due  to  differences  in  climate.  In  the 
Alps  one  of  two  things  happened :  First,  the  streams  may  have  eroded  so  fast  that 
when  tectonic  forces  began  to  uplift  the  mountains  and  fonn  basins,  erosion  kept 
pace  with  the  uplift,  and  the  streams  which  crossed  the  rims  of  the  basins  pre- 
served uninterrupted  channels  from  the  interior  to  the  e.xterior.  Second,  a  newly 
formed  basin  may  have  been  filled  by  a  lake,  the  overflow  of  which  soon  cut  a 
channel  so  deep  as  to  drain  off  all  the  water,  or  at  least  all  that  stood  at  anv  great 
elevation  above  sea-level.  In  either  case  the  basins  were  quickly  converted  into 
valleys  opening  freely  toward  the  sea.  In  Persia,  where  the  climate  is  dr>-,  on 
the  contrar}',  the  erosion  of  the  scanty  streams  was  insufficient  to  keep  pace  with 
the  movements  of  warping,  and  inclosed  basins  were  produced  in  which  the  streams 
still  terminate  in  salt  lakes,  playas,  or  gravel  fans,  where  all  the  material  that 
comes  from  the  mountains  is  preser\-ed.  A  peculiar  topography  was  produced, 
which  consists  of  inclosed  basins  within  which  are  huge  gravel  slopes,  broad  plains 
of  silt,  buried  mountains,  .salt  lakes,  and  fields  of  sand-dunes.  In  brief,  basins  are 
the  universal  accompaniment  of  mountain-building,  but  their  preser\-ation  is 
dependent  on  a  dry  climate.     Such  a  climate,  it  is   tnie,  is  often  due   in   large 


224  THE   BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA    AND    SISTAN. 

meastire  to  the  presence  of  mountain  barriers  which  shut  out  the  moisture-laden 
air  of  the  oceans  from  the  basins  which  they  inclose.  Thus  the  fonnation  of  basins 
tends  to  produce  a  dn>-  climate,  and  the  dr}-  climate  tends  to  preser\'e  the  basins  and 
at  the  same  time  to  produce  a  peculiar  topography. 

It  is  not  simply  with  aridil)-  of  climate  that  we  have  to  deal  in  Eastern  Persia. 
During  Quaternary  times  there  appear  to  have  been  changes  of  climate,  and  as  some 
of  the  changes  took  place  ver)-  recently,  probably  since  the  occupation  of  the  countrj' 
by  man,  their  careful  study  is  of  great  importance  for  the  purpose  of  our  expedition 
The  chief  evidences  of  climatic  changes  take  the  form  of  numerous  lacustrine  and 
fluviatile  terraces.  The  former,  like  the  terraces  of  Lake  Bonneville,  are  due  to 
changes  in  the  water-level  of  lakes  or  playas,  while  the  flu\'iatile  terraces  appear 
to  have  been  fonned  where  one  type  of  climate  caused  the  deposition  of  gravel,  and 
another  t)'pe,  probably  either  drier  or  wanner,  caused  this  to  be  channeled.  The 
physiographic  effect  of  changes  of  climate  is  so  important  that  its  exemplification 
in  Persia  demands  the  most  careful  consideration.  The  uniformity  of  the  terrace 
phenomena  throughout  the  semi-arid  countries  of  the  western  half  of  Asia  seems 
to  be  explicable  only  on  the  theory  of  a  succession  of  epochs  of  changing  climate 
corresponding  to  the  glacial  epochs  of  more  northern  countries. 

The  lake  and  district  of  Sistan  afford  unusually  clear  evidence  as  to  the  sub- 
division of  Quaternary'  time.  During  the  latter  part  of  the  Quaternary  era  volcanoes 
broke  out  within  the  area  of  the  lake,  and  in  the  course  of  their  eruptions  large 
portions  of  the  lake  bottom  were  uplifted  and  covered  in  part  with  caps  of  lava- 
Subsequent  erosion  has  produced  cliffs  from  50  to  600  feet  high,  which  expose  large 
])ortions  of  the  ancient  lake  deposits.  The  histor}'  of  the  Quaternan,-  era  and  of  the 
forms  assumed  in  Persia  by  the  period  which  corresponds  to  the  glacial  period  of 
other  lands  is  here  laid  bare  without  the  concealment  of  earlier  phases  and  without 
inidue  emphasis  on  later  events. 

The  record  of  the  climatic  changes  of  the  QuaternarA^  era  is  almost  ever^^'here 
incomplete,  whether  pre.ser\'ed  in  moraines,  in  terraces,  or  in  aqueous  deposits.  One 
fonnation  is  placed  upon  another,  and  unless  each  successive  epoch  happens  to  be 
less  severe  than  its  predecessor,  the  traces  of  earlier  epochs  are  almost  sure  to  be 
effaced.  The  records  of  climatic  change  are  preser\-ed  most  perfectly  in  the  bottoms 
of  shallow  lakes  without  outlets,  where  a  diminution  in  rainfall  or  an  increase  in 
evaporation  produces  a  great  diminution  in  the  size  of  the  body  of  water  and  con- 
sequently in  the  character  of  the  .sediments  deposited.  Naturally  the  bottoms  of 
such  lakes  are  of  little  use  to  the  geologist,  because  of  his  inability  to  stud)-  them. 
Hence  the  importance  of  Sistan,  where  so  large  a  part  of  the  record  is  exposed.  It 
affords  a  key  which  may  serve  to  inilock  the  history-  of  the  neighboring  Caspian 
basin  and  of  still  larger  regions. 

The  deposits  uplifted  at  the  time  of  the  Sistan  volcanoes  and  exposed  to  view 
by  the  erosion  of  the  lake  consist  of  layers  of  reddish  clayey  silt  varied  with  bands 
of  sand  and  gravel  on  the  one  hand,  systematically  alternating  with  remarkably 
uniform  unbroken  layers  of  hard,  greenish  claj-  on  the  other.  The  reddish  lajers 
contain  lateral  unconfonnities,  discontinuous  layers  of  coarser  material  and  rain- 
drop prints,  which  indicate  that  they  are  of  subaerial  origin  and  were  laid  down  by 


PIIYSIOGKAPIIV   OF   EASTERN    PERSIA.  225 

ninninjT^  water  or  in  playas  when  the  lake  floor  was  almost  free  from  pennanent 
water,  and  hence  during  epochs  of  aridity.  The  green  clays  on  the  other  hand 
are  so  fine-grained  and  uniform  in  texture  and  so  free  from  changes  of  stnicture 
that  they  appear  to  be  lacustrine  deposits,  laid  down  at  a  time  when  the  lake  was 
full  of  water,  and  hence  during  epochs  of  more  abundant  moisture.  The  entire 
formation  of  alternating  reddish  and  green  strata  is  most  satisfactorily  explained  on 
the  theon.-  that  it  is  the  product  of  a  series  of  climatic  oscillations  during  which  the 
lake  was  first  dry  and  then  full.  The  histor\-  of  the  region  after  the  volcanic  erup- 
tions is  recorded  in  gravel  deposits  which  overlie  the  strata  just  described  and 
alternate  with  fine  gravel  and  in  terraces  which  dissect  all  the  strata.  The  gravels 
and  terraces  appear  to  indicate  a  continuation  of  the  climatic  oscillation  down  to 
ver)-  recent  times.  The  total  number  of  oscillations  amounts  to  fourteen  or  fifteen, 
and  ma)'  ha\"e  been  more. 

As  one  ascends  from  the  bottom  to  the  top  of  the  deposits,  the  greenish  layers 
iucrea.se  in  frequency  and  to  a  less  extent  in  thickness  up  to  a  certain  point,  while 
the  red  layers  become  correspondingly  thinner.  After  the  green  beds  have  reached 
their  maximum  development  there  is  again  a  decrease  in  thickness  which  can  be 
traced  only  through  a  few  stages  because  the  clays  soon  give  place  to  gravels.  The 
thickness  of  the  layers  is  probably  proportional  to  the  length  of  time  consumed  in 
their  accumulation.  Therefore  where  the  red  laj-ers  are  thin,  epochs  of  desiccation 
must  have  been  short,  and  epochs  of  lake  expansion  must  have  prevailed  for  rela- 
tively long  periods.  Where  the  red  layers  are  thick,  on  the  contrary-,  the  epochs  of 
desiccation  must  ha\e  been  longer  and  more  important,  and  those  of  lake  expansion 
must  have  been  short.  The  meaning  of  the  clays,  the  overlying  gravels,  and  the 
terraces  seems  to  be  that  the  Ouaternar}-  era  in  Persia  consisted  of  a  long  series  of 
increasingly  strong  climatic  oscillations,  followed  by  a  nearly  equal  series  of  decrcas- 
ingly  strong  oscillations.  The  latter  appear  to  correspond  to  the  series  of  oscillations 
which  we  know  as  the  glacial  period  in  more  northern  countries.  Furthermore, 
there  is  evidence,  based  on  phjsiographic,  archeological,  and  historical  observations, 
which  indicates  that  the  last  of  the  climatic  oscillations  may  have  been  in  progress 
during  historical  times. 

THE  PHYSIOGRAPHY  OF  EASTERN  PERSIA. 

Eastern  Persia  is  a  land  of  gra\el  and  nakedness,  of  huge  desert  basins  and 
desolate,  interminable  slopes,  of  tantalizing  mirages  and  bare  mountains.  Springs 
and  fountains  are  things  to  dream  of  except  directly  among  the  mountains,  and 
the  traveler  and  his  tired  animals  must  be  content  with  the  brackish  water  of  rare 
wells  or  the  ]ioor  brine  of  an  ever-diminishing  salt  stream.  Day  after  day  one  sees 
the  same  sad  monotony  of  parched  plains  and  lifeless  mountains.  At  long  intervals 
nomads  pitch  their  black  tents  beside  wretched  wells  and  feed  their  sheep  and 
camels  on  the  sparse  brown  grass  which  springs  up  for  a  brief  month  at  the  end  ot 
winter.  The  mountains  are  naked  masses  of  rough,  jagged  rock,  rising  as  islands 
in  the  midst  of  their  own  waste.  Drought  and  aridity  are  ever\-where  written 
large  in   the  dearth  of  vegetation   and   in   the  verj-   fonns  that  the  earth   itself 


226  THE   BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA    AND    SISTAN. 

assumes.     Tlie  whole  country  is  sad  and  desolate — a  region  to  be  shunned  b)-  those 
who  have  dwelt  in  a  happier  land. 

"So  far  as  the  surface  of  the  Persian  plateau  has  been  surveyed,"  wrote 
Blanford,  thirty  years  ago,  "it  consists  of  a  niunber  of  isolated  plains  of  varying 
extent  and  elevation  above  the  sea,  all  without  an)-  outlet,  and  separated  from  each 
other  by  ranges  of  hills,  frequently  of  consideral)le  height.  The  lowest  portion  of 
each  of  these  plains  is  generally  a  salt  lake  or  marsh.  If  there  be  a  lake  its  level 
often  fluctuates,  and  one  or  two  seasons  of  deficient  rainfall  suffice  to  lay  bare  the 
greater  portion  of  its  bed,  or  to  convert  it  into  a  marsh.  Rivers  are  few  in  number 
and  singiilarly  small  in  volume;  in  fact,  not  the  least  striking  feature  of  the 
country  consists  in  their  paucity  or  absence.  The  whole  of  Persia,  except  near  the 
shores  of  the  Caspian  and  on  the  western  slopes  of  the  Zagros,  is,  in  fact,  a  desert, 
and  all  cultivated  oases  owe  their  fertilit)-  to  irrigation  from  springs  or  from  the 
small  streams  fed  by  the  rain  or  snow  of  winter."  Such  streams  are  so  rare,  how- 
ever, that  Colonel  Gore,  as  Sykes  relates  (p.  40),  rode  400  miles  from  the  Heri  Rud 
to  Hur,  near  Kinnan,  without  seeing  a  single  stream  of  flowing  water. 

Yet  even  in  Eastern  Persia,  the  worst  part  of  the  countr}-,  there  is  another 
side  to  the  picture.  Among  the  mountains  which  border  the  basins,  springs  and 
little  streams  support  small  villages,  where  green  fields  and  flourishing  orchards 
drive  away  the  thought  'of  the  desert  for  a  while.  Sad  experience  has  taught 
the  people  to  utilize  the  underground  water  by  means  of  "kanats,"  long  under- 
ground channels,  which  start  deep  underground  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains  and 
gradually  approach  the  surface,  bringing  water  far  out  into  the  plains.  Where  the 
mountains  are  high  and  provide  water  for  numerous  "kanats"  the  plains  are  well 
dotted  with  villages,  and  even  support  cities.  All  of  the  few  rivers  are  utilized  for 
irrigation,  and  in  Sistan  the  waters  of  the  Hehnund  support  scores  and  perhaps 
hundreds  of  villages. 

In  such  a  countr}-  the  conditions  of  life  are  extremely  hard.  Strange  as  it 
may  seem,  when  the  average  population  is  less  than  10  to  the  square  mile  the 
country  is  overpopulated.  There  are  thousands  upon  thousands  of  square  miles 
of  fine-soiled  plain  which  would  be  highly  fertile  if  only  they  could  be  supplied 
with  water.  Ever}-where  the  cr}-  goes  up  for  water,  and  there  is  no  water.  In 
Western  Persia  conditions  are  better,  but  throughout  the  basin  region  of  the  center 
and  east  ever}-  drop  of  water  from  above  ground  and  below  is  utilized,  and  a  scarcity 
of  winter  snow  to  .stock  the  mountains  means  gaunt  famine.  The  distribution  of 
population  illustrates  this.  Harbors,  trade  routes,  facilities  for  manufacturing,  and 
the  like  are  of  secondar}'  importance  in  detennining  the  location  of  cities.  The 
primary  consideration  is  water.  Where  water  is  abundant  large  cities  are  almost 
sure  to  grow  up,  if  other  conditions  are  in  the  least  favorable.  Accordingly  the 
large  cities  of  Persia  are  situated  close  to  lofty  mountains.  As  a  rule,  the  density  of 
population  is  in  direct  proportion  to  the  height  of  the  mountains.  Sistan  appears 
to  be  an  exception,  but,  after  all,  its  abundant  population  is  a  response  to  the 
tremendous  mountains  of  Hindu  Rush.  The  response  is  far  from  the  cause, 
because  the  inter\'euing  space  can  not  be  cultivated. 


PHYSIOGRAPHY   OF   EASTERN    PERSIA.  22/ 

CLIMATE  :    THE   CAUSE   OF   THE   DESOLATION   OF   PERSIA. 

The  main  cause  of  the  desert  condition  of  Persia  is  its  climate.  The  rainfall 
of  the  country-  as  a  whole  is  estimated  as  averaging  not  over  lo  inches  a  year. 
Throughout  the  greater  portion  of  central  and  southeastern  Persia  and  the  adjoining 
portions  of  Afghanistan  and  Baluchistan  the  annual  rainfall  can  not  be  much  more 
than  5  inches.  (St.  John,  p.  7.)  The  extreme  paucity  of  this  will  be  realized  when 
it  is  remembered  that  when  the  rainfall  is  less  than  1 2  inches  a  year  the  region  is 
reduced  to  a  desert  and  the  water  supply  is  too  small  to  be  of  sen,'ice  in  irrigation, 
except  in  small  areas  or  on  the  banks  of  large  rivers.  The  scanty  rainfall  is  usually- 
divided  as  follows,  according  to  St.  John  (p.  7) :  "A  little  rain  is  hoped  for,  but  not 
always  expected,  in  November,  to  sow  the  early  crops.  In  December  there  is  gen- 
erally a  tolerably-  heavy  fall  of  snow,  and  another  in  February,  followed  b>-  showers 
in  March  and  the  beginning  of  April,  after  w-hich  there  is  nothing  but  an  occasional 
thunder  stonn  in  the  mountains  till  the  next  winter." 

This  woful  aridity  is  due  partly  to  Persia's  continental  position  and  partly  to 
the  high  mountains  which  hem  it  in.  Although  36  per  cent  of  the  Persian  frontier 
is  bordered  by  salt  water,  the  country  is  distinctly  continental  in  climate  and  in  the 
character  of  its  people.  Only  the  7  per  cent  of  seacoast  in  the  southeast  corner 
along  the  Indian  Ocean  is  exposed  to  the  open  sea,  while  the  remaining  29  per 
cent  faces  the  inclosed  Caspian  Sea  and  the  Persian  Gulf,  which  have  little  influence 
in  producing  a  marine  climate  or  people.  Moreo\-er,  the  high  mountains  which 
border  Persia  on  even,-  side  shut  out  the  moisture  of  the  sea  and  shut  in  the  people. 

The  prevailing  winds  of  Eastern  Persia  bring  \-er)-  little  rain,  as  they  come 
from  the  north  and  northwest,  from  a  continental  region.  They-  flow  into  districts 
of  increasing  warmth,  where  their  capacity  for  holding  and  absorbing  moisture  is 
continually  increased  and  the  tendency-  to  furnish  rain  correspondinglv  decreased. 
The  moisture  picked  up  in  crossing  the  Black  and  Caspian  seas  is  deposited  in  the 
lofty  Annenian  highland  and  Elburz  range,  and  little  is  left  for  the  thirsty  lands 
beyond.  In  summer  the  northward  prolongation  of  the  trade  winds  combines  with 
the  spirally  inflowing  winds  w-hich  circle  round  the  Asiatic  center  of  low  barometric 
pressure  far  to  the  northeast,  and  guided  by  the  north-northwest  trend  of  the  moun- 
tains of  Eastern  Persia  produces  dry  winds  of  the  most  extraordinary  strength  and 
constancy.  Holdich  (pp.  145,  334)  describes  their  occun'ence  in  northwestern 
Afghanistan  and  northwestern  Baluchistan,  but  they-  are  most  violent  at  Sistan,  half- 
way between  the  tw-o.  According  to  the  British  members  of  the  Sistan  Arbitration 
Commission,  this  wind,  called  the  "Wind  of  One  Hundred  and  Twenty  Days," 
blows  almost  continuously  day  and  night  during  the  four  hottest  months  of  the 
year,  much  of  the  time  at  the  hurricane  rate  of  from  60  to  80  miles  per  hour. 
Dust  and  sand  fill  the  air.  The  double-pegged  tents  which  withstand  the  blast 
make  a  noise  like  that  of  the  rigging  of  a  ship  in  the  wildest  stonn.  The  con- 
tinual hum,  flap,  clatter,  rattle,  bang,  make  mental  work  almost  impossible. 

Yet  the  wind  has  its  beneficial  aspect.  In  the  houses  of  the  rich  an  open 
doorway  in  the  north  side  is  stuffed  with  small  brush.     Upon  this  a  servant  throws 


228 


TIIK    BASIX    OF    EASTERN    PERSIA    AND    SISTAN. 


water,  the  evaporation  of  wliich  cools  the  air  thai  whistles  throii<^h  and  Riuk-rs  the 
interior  comfortable.  When  the  wind  dies  down  for  a  day  or  two,  as  happens 
occasionally,  the  houses  become  insufierably  hot  and  myriads  of  flies  and  mosquitoes 
at  once  swarm  everywhere. 

The  strent^th  and  uniform  direction  of  the  wind  allow  windmills  to  be  constructed 
with  simplicity  and  ease.  The  wheel  is  shaped  like  an  old-fashioned  water-wheel,  6 
or  8  feet  long,  and  is  set  vertically  on  the  roof  of  the  mill,  directly  over  the  stone  which 


Fig.   149. — Windmills  al  Tabas. 

it  is  to  turn  (fig.  149).    About  the  wheel  is  built  a  high  mud  wall,  which  is  left  open  on 

the  south  side  and  on  the  western  half  of  the  north  side  (fig.  150).     The  wind  enters 

I  through  the  slit  at  the  north,  turns  the  wheel,  and  finds  an  exit  to 

*'"'""^  the  south.  Often  ten  or  twelve  mills  are  set  in  a  row,  east  and  w^est, 
and  at  Neh,  northwest  of  Sistan,  I  saw  fifty.  One  unfortunate  effect 
of  the  wind  is  that  in  Sistan  no  fniit  can  be  raised  upon  trees,  and  in 
certain  places  even  melons  can  not  thrive.  The  wild  watermelon, 
which  matures  its  beautiful  but  intensely  acrid  little  green  and  yellow 
fruits  in  the  dr}'  "nullah"  beds,  has  learned  to  withstand  the  wind. 
Normally,  the  vine  spreads  in  all  directions,  but  under  the  influence 
of  the  wind  the  branches  are  bent  to  the  south,  and  lie  in  a  long  bunch  so  exactly 
oriented  that  the  plants  might  almost  ser\'e  as  a  compass.  Three  that  I  measured 
were  directed  S.  3°  E.,  S.  17°  E.,  and  S.  11°  E. 


V 


Fia.  150    Hori- 

zoQtal  section  of  a 
Persian  wiDdmill. 


PHYSIOGRAPHY    OF    EASTERN    PERSIA. 


229 


Evidences  of  the  strength  of  the  wind  and  the  paucity  of  rain  abound  every- 
where. In  many  parts  of  the  Hehnund  delta  the  fierce  "Wind  of  One  Hundred 
and  Twenty  Days  "  has  scooped  in  the  smooth  plain  great  hollows  6  or  8  feet  deep, 
20  or  30  feet  wide,  and  hundreds  of  feet  long.  Universally  the  long  axis  is  directed 
to  tlie  north-northwest.  At  first  sight  these  hollows  appear  to  have  been  formed  by 
running  water,  but  the  testimony  of  the  natives,  the  location  of  the  depressions 
where  no  water  could  come,  the  uniform  orientation,  and  the  known  force  and 
direction  of  the  wind  iniite  to  make  it  certain  that  they  are  of  teolian  origin.  In 
this  same  region  a  peculiar  effect  was  called  to  my  notice  by  Mr.  G.  P.  Tate, 
topographer  of  the  Sistan  Arbitration  Commission.  Sistan  abounds  in  ruins  made 
of  sun-dried  brick.  Wherever  the  old  walls  stand  in  a  north-and-south  direction, 
parallel  to  the  prevailing  course  of  the  wind,  they  remain  standing  indefinitely, 


Fig.  151. — Ruins  at  the  Mil-i-Kasimabad,  near  Zahidan.    These  mud  wails  are  at  least  five  hundred  years  old. 
Only  those  in  a  north-and-south  direction  remain  standing. 

although  gradually  worn  ver}-  thin  by  attrition.  Wherever  the  walls  stand  in  the 
other  direction,  and  are  exposed  to  the  full  power  of  the  wind,  they  are  speedily 
blown  away  and  disappear  entirely.  Thus  it  happens  that  tlie  ruins  often  present 
the  appearance  shown  in  the  illustration  (fig.  151),  where  numerous  north-and-south 
walls  stand  intact,  with  almost  no  east-and-west  walls  to  connect  them.  Besides 
these  more  unusual  results,  the  wind  plays  its  well-known  part  in  beveling  pebbles 
and  bricks  and  in  etching  out  and  carrying  away  the  softer  parts  of  the  rocks. 

In  winter  the  winds,  although  prevailingly  from  the  northwest,  are  less  severe 
and  less  regular  than  in  summer.  Occasional  cyclonic  storms  are  accompanied  by 
southeast  winds  (St.  John,  p.  7),  which  bring  the  scant  rainfall  of  the  couutr\-.  At 
its  best  the  rainfall  is  sufficient  to  tinge  the  mountains  with  green  for  a  few  weeks 
in  spring  and  to  support  a  scanty  population  of  villagers  and  nomads  ;  at  its  worst, 
it  supports  nothing  but  a  few  prickly  bushes,  and  famine  destroys  unnumbered 
people  and  animals.  The  curse  of  Persia  is  the  aridity  due  to  the  continental 
position  of  the  country  and  to  its  rim  of  high  mountains. 


230  THE   BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND   SISTAN. 

THE    BASIN    REGION    OK    IRAN. 

Before  proceeding  to  a  more  detailed  study  of  the  influence  of  an  arid  climate 
upon  the  physiography  of  Eastern  Persia,  I  shall  describe  the  main  features  of  the 
mountain  rim  and  of  the  diversified  basin  which  it  incloses.  Among  geographical 
writers  it  is  customary-  to  speak  of  Persia,  Afghanistan,  and  Baluchistan  as  composing 
the  plateau  of  Iran.  It  is  well  to  use  the  name  Iran  for  the  portion  of  the  three 
countries  included  within  the  mountain  border,  but  the  tenn  "  plateau  "  is  misleading. 
The  region  is  essentially  a  basin,  not  a  plateau.  From  the  central  knot  of  the  Pamirs, 
a  genuine  plateau,  two  mountain  passes  diverge  westward.  One,  the  more  northerly, 
runs  west  by  south  under  the  name  of  Hindu  Kush,  and  then,  as  the  Paropamisus, 
turns  directly  westward  and  traverses  Northern  Afghanistan.  From  a  height  of 
25,000  feet  in  the  Pamirs  it  descends  until  in  Western  Afghanistan  the  highest  peaks 
rise  but  5,000  or  6,000  feet  above  the  sea,  and  the  main  range  is  traversed  from 
south  to  north  by  the  Heri  Rud,  the  river  of  Herat.  Westward  in  Persia  the 
mountains  incline  to  the  north,  and  in  Kopet  Dagh  and  the  mountains  of  Khorasan 
reach  an  altitude  of  10,000  feet.  Then,  inclining  once  more  to  the  south,  they  take 
the  name  of  Elburz,  south  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  and  rise  to  an  extreme  height  of 
19,400  feet  in  Demavend.  Lastly,  still  at  tremendous  heights,  the  range  swings  to 
the  northwest  and  loses  itself  in  a  second  mountain  knot,  the  plateau  of  Armenia. 
The  other  mountain  mass  starts  from  the  Pamir  as  part  of  the  Hindu  Kush,  but 
soon  diverges  to  the  south,  and  running  south-southwest  traverses  the  eastern  part 
of  Afghanistan  and  Baluchistan  under  the  name  of  the  Suliman  Mountains,  rising 
often  to  heights  of  12,000  feet.  As  it  approaches  the  Arabian  Sea  it  turns  west- 
ward, and  at  decreasing  heights  follows  the  seacoast  until  Persia  is  reached.  Here, 
as  in  the  corresponding  portion  of  the  northern  range,  the  mountains  are  but  5,000 
or  6,000  feet  high.  F'arther  west  in  Persia,  however,  the  mountains  soon  regain 
their  height,  and  swinging  to  the  northwest  run  straight  through  the  center  of  the 
countrj-  at  heights  from  8,000  to  14,000  feet,  and  finally  in  the  highlands  of  Amienia 
coalesce  with  the  northern  of  the  two  mountain  chains  which  start  from  Hindu 
Kush.  Between  these  two  chains,  and  completely  inclosed  by  them,  lies  the  basin 
region  of  Iran,  which  is  roughly  shaped  like  a  segment  of  a  circle,  1,200  miles 
long  from  east  to  west,  and  600  miles  broad.  This  region,  most  of  which  is  abso- 
lute desert,  contains  an  area  of  over  500,000  square  miles,  and  is  as  large  as  the 
twenty  of  the  United  States  which  lie  east  of  the  Mississippi  River  and  north  of 
Tennessee  and  North  Carolina ;  or,  to  compare  it  with  a  region  where  physio- 
graphic conditions  are  more  similar,  as  large  as  the  five  semi-arid  states  of  Colorado, 
Utah,  Nevada,  Arizona,  and  New  Mexico. 

THE   TWO    B.\SINS   OF   IRAN. 

The  basin  region  of  Iran  contains  two  chief  basins  divided  into  many  smaller 
basins  (fig.  152).  The  largest  basin,  embracing  about  three-fifths  of  all  Iran,  lies 
wholly  in  Persia  and  may  properly  be  called  the  Persian  basin.  The  other  chief 
basin,  embracing  the  greater  part  of  the  remaining  two-fifths  of  Iran,  about 
200,000  square  miles,  contains  parts  of  Persia,  Afghanistan,  and  Baluchistan.     It 


PHYSIOGRAPHY   OF   EASTERN    PERSIA. 


231 


is  sometimes  called  the  Helmund  basin,  from  the  main  river,  but  a  better  name  is 
the  Sistan  basin,  from  the  lake  and  swamp  into  which  all  the  rivers  would  finally 
discharge  if  they  did  not  drj-  up  on  the  way.  The  main  portion  of  this  report  is 
concenied  with  the  Sistan  basin,  but  certain  features  of  the  Persian  basin  will  also 
be  described,  and  there  will  be  frequent  occasions  to  refer  to  Iran  as  a  whole,  and 
also  to  Turan  or  Turkestan,  as  the  region  farther  north  is  termed. 

The  border  region  between  the  basins  of  Persia  and  Sistan  is  important  becau.se 
it  represents  a  line  of  earth  movements  extending  north  and  south  across  the 
middle  of  Iran  transverse  to  the  main  orographic  lines.  West  of  this  line  the 
Persian  basin  was  uplifted,  while  to  the  east  the  Sistan  basin,  together  with  that  of 
the  Heri  Rud,  was  depressed.  The  region  of  maximum  depression  forms  a  long 
north-and-south  strip,  the  Afghan  depression,  in  which  are  grouped  a  number  of 


Pamirs 


Fig.  152. — Sketch  map  of  the  double  basin  of  Iran. 

notable  physiographic  phenomena.  At  the  north  the  low  mountains,  close  to  what 
is  now  the  boundar)-  between  Persia  and  Afghanistan,  afford  a  ready  pa.ssage  between 
the  deserts  of  the  south  and  those  of  the  north.  Elsewhere,  for  more  than  1,500 
miles  from  the  Pamirs  to  the  Anneniau  plateau,  a  giant  wall  of  mountains  separates 
Iran  and  Turan.  Here,  however  (A,  fig.  152),  the  low,  rounded  mountains  aflTord 
an  easy  passage  which  has  been  utilized  by  anny  after  anny,  from  the  time  of 
Alexander  through  the  dajs  of  Timur  and  Jenghis  Khan  to  the  present  century-, 
when  Russia  sees  in  it  her  easiest  road  to  the  south.  Here,  too,  the  Heri  Rud 
breaks  through  the  main  mountain  range  and  emerges  upon  the  desert  of  Trans- 
caspia,  the  only  instance  where  a  river  escapes  from  the  basin  of  Iran.  South  of 
the  Heri  Rud  the  east-and-west  ranges  of  Afghan  mountains  come  to  a  sudden  end, 
while  those  that  front  them  on  the  Persian  side  run  in  the  opposite  direction  nearly 
north  and  south.     Between  the  opposing  mountains  lies  the  "Nemeksar"  or  "salt 


232  TIIK    HASIN    OF    ICASTERN    PERSIA    AND    SISTAN. 

playa  "  of  Khaf  (B,  fig.  152),  at  the  center  of  an  important  subsidiarj'  basin.  Farther 
south  a  steep  east-facing  escarpment,  which  suggests  a  fauU  scarp,  limits  the  Persian 
basin,  which  stretches  away  in  normal  fashion  westward  from  the  summit,  while  on 
the  east,  at  the  foot  of  the  escarpment,  the  smooth  "  Desert  of  Despair  "  (C,  fig.  152), 
strangely  broken  by  buried  mountains,  spreads  its  harsh  gravels  far  southward  to 
the  lake  and  swamp  of  Sistan  (D,  fig.  152).  Onward  in  the  same  direction  the 
desert  continues  to  the  swamp  of  Ma.shkel  (E,  fig.  152),  still  bounded  by  the  escarp- 
ment which  swings  somewhat  eastward  south  of  Sistan  and  bears  upon  its  top  the 
cone  of  Kuh-i-Taftan  (O,  fig.  152),  the  only  active  volcano  of  Western  Asia.  South 
of  all  these  features  the  low  mountains  of  southwestern  Haluchistan  bring  the 
depression  to  an  end  (F,  fig.  152).  The  streams  flowing  into  the  depression  from 
the  east  are  long  and  large  ;  those  from  the  west  are  so  short  as  to  be  little  more 
than  mountain  torrents. 

GEOLOGICAL    HISTORY    OF    THE    B.\SIN. 

The  age  of  the  basins  of  Iran  can  onl\-  Ik-  determined  by  a  stud\-  of  the  geology 
of  the  countr)',  but  of  this,  unfortunately,  we  know  merely  the  bare  outlines.  Not 
only  is  the  country  remote  and  difficult  of  access,  but  the  aridity  obliges  the  traveler 
to  hold  closely  to  the  roads  which  usually  traverse  the  gravel-strewn  plains.  If  he 
makes  detours  to  the  moinitains,  his  caravan  may  be  obliged  to  spend  the  night 
without  water.  Geological  study  is  at  a  disadvantage.  The  work  of  Blanford 
(A,  p.  468)  and  the  geographical  map  of  Mushketoff  show  that  the  mountains 
bordering  the  Persian  portion  of  Iran  consist  for  the  most  part  of  a  main  mass  of 
Cretaceous  limestone  bordered  on  the  inside  by  a  smaller  amount  of  Paleozoic  or 
ancient  cr>-stalline  strata,  and  on  the  outside  by  concentric  bands  of  Tertiary  strata, 
each  of  which  is  less  warped  than  the  one  below  it.  The  inference  is  that  at  the 
end  of  the  Cretaceous  era  the  mountain  borders  of  western  Iran  began  to  ri.se  and 
have  continued  to  be  uplifted  throughout  a  large  part  of  Tertiary  time.  Throughout 
the  Kocene  period  the  sea  (Hlanford,  A,  p.  468,  and  Vredenburg,  p.  168)  covered 
the  region  which  is  now  occupied  by  the  low  mountains  of  Baluchistan,  and  also 
nuich  of  the  interior,  judging  from  the  nummulitic  limestone  which  Blanford 
mentions  as  being  reported  from  Yezd  and  Kohnul,  and  which  I  fomid  abundantly 
in  the  mountains  northwest  of  Sistan.  It  also  probably  covered  the  northwestern 
corner  of  Afghanistan,  for  the  mountains  there  consist  largely  of  Tertiar\-  forma- 
tions which  seem  to  be  of  rather  late  date.  Apparently  there  was  oceanic  connection 
between  the  Arabian  Sea  and  the  Samartian  vSea  which  covered  the  Caspian  region, 
and  the  interior  of  the  Iran  basin  was  covered  by  a  marine  embayment.  When  or 
how  the  sea  retreated  or  when  the  eastern  borders  of  Iran  were  uplifted  we  do  not 
know.  It  is  clear,  however,  that  during  the  latter  half  of  tlie  Tertiary  era  Iran 
had  been  divided  into  basins  in  which  subaerial  deposition  took  jilace,  as  is  shown 
b)-  the  silty  and  sandy  strata  of  a  prevailingly  red  color  which  overlie  more  uni- 
fonnly  bedded  shales  of  marine  or  estuarine  origin. 


GEOLOGICAL    IILSTORV    OF    NORTHEASTERN    PERSIA.  233 

ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  THE  GEOLOGICAL  HISTORY  OF  NORTHEASTERN  PERSIA. 

Although  the  portion  of  Iran  which  I  traversed  embraces  but  a  small  part  of 
the  entire  basin,  it  affords  illustrations  of  many  phenomena  characteristic  of  the 
entire  region.  These  fall  into  groups  illustrating,  respectively,  (i)  the  non-climatic 
or  more  strictly  geological  historj'  of  Iran  during  the  Tertiary-  and  Quaternary  eras ; 
(2)  the  physiographic  results  produced  by  an  arid  climate  during  the  same  time ; 
and  (3)  the  effects  produced  by  climatic  changes  during  the  Quatemarj-  era.  Each 
of  these  groups  will  be  considered  in  its  relation  to  certain  theoretical  generaliza- 
tions, and  in  relation  to  the  geographic  aspect  of  the  countr)-.  The  following 
illustrations  of  the  geological  history  pertain  first  to  the  character  and  conditions 
of  uplift  of  the  mountains  on  the  northeastern  border  of  Persia ;  second,  to  the 
nature  and  appearance  of  the  north-and-south  break  which  separates  the  Persian 
and  Sistan  basins  ;  and,  third,  to  the  conditions  of  warping  and  deposition  in  the 
numerous  subsidiary  basins. 

THE    MOUNTAINS    OF    KHORASAN. 

The  term  Khorasan  is  applied  administratively  to  all  northeastern  Persia  from 
Astrabad  to  the  northwestern  corner  of  Baluchistan.  In  a  n:ore  restricted  .sense  it 
is  the  name  of  the  mountainous  northeastern  corner  of  the  coinitr\'  centering  about 
Meshed  as  a  capital.  As  thus  limited  Khorasan  is  one  of  the  most  prosperous 
provinces  of  Persia,  thanks  to  the  considerable  number  of  mountains  which  rise  to 
the  height  of  10,000  feet  or  more ;  yet  the  prevailing  aspect  is  one  of  sterility. 
The  mountains  are  very  scantily  covered  with  soil,  and  support  merely  a  few  weeds 
and  bushes  and  an  ephemeral  growth  of  grass  in  spring.  Cultivation  is  almost 
confined  to  the  valley  bottoms  and  is  dependent  entirely  on  irrigation.  Each  village 
is  an  oasis  in  the  midst  of  a  desert,  but  compared  with  other  parts  of  Persia  the 
oases  are  large  and  numerous,  and  are  often  of  great  beauty,  with  their  fringes  of 
poplars  and  orchards. 

This  favored  province  of  Persia  consists  of  four  parts.  On  the  north  lies  the 
broad  mountain  mass  of  Kopet  Dagh,  running  northwest  and  southeast,  and  fonning 
the  boundary'  between  Persia  and  the  Russian  province  of  Transcaspia.  South  of 
Kopet  Dagh  lies  the  so-called  valley  of  Meshed,  a  narrow  cigar-shaped  basin  or 
depression.  This  is  bounded  on  the  south  by  the  Binalud  range,  which  runs  from 
the  Afghan  border  northwestward  parallel  to  Kopet  Dagh  as  far  as  Kuchan,  and 
then  turns  southwestward  until  it  joins  the  Elburz  Mountains  southeast  of  the 
Caspian  vSea.  Within  the  great  arch  of  the  Binalud  range  lies  the  fourth  division 
of  Khora.san,  the  little-known  basins  of  Isferayin,  Jaga-tai,  and  Nisliapur,  together 
with  the  mountains  which  hem  them  in.  South  of  all  stretches  the  fearful  desert 
of  the  Dasht-i-Kavir  or  Dasht-i-Lut. 

KOPET   DAGH. 

If  the  line  of  the  Caucasus  IMouutains  be  projected  acro.ss  the  Caspian  Sea  it 
reappears  in  the  low,  isolated,  and  half-buried  ranges  of  the  Great  and  Little 
Balkhans.  Toward  the  southeast  these  mountains  become  broader  and  higher,  and 
rise   into  the  distinct  range  of  Kopet  Dagh,  or  Kopet  Mountain,  which,  with  an 


234  THE    BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND   SISTAN. 

average  breadth  of  40  or  50  miles,  extends  for  350  miles  to  the  Afghan  frontier. 
My  own  knowledge  of  the  range  is  based  on  three  caravan  jonnieys — one  into  tlie 
high  mountains  south  of  Askhabad  ;  anotlier  around  the  eastern  end  of  the  range 
from  Uushak,  where  the  railroad  turns  away  from  the  mountains,  to  Scrakhs  and 
up  the  Heri  Rud ;  and  a  third  from  Meshed,  via  Kuchan,  to  Askhabad. 

Kopet  Dagh  appears  to  be  a  fairly  mature  mountain  mass  which  has  recently 
been  faulted  and  strongly  uplifted,  and  thus  rejuvenated.  The  highest  portion, 
near  Askhabad,  has  been  described  by  Professor  Davis  (ante,  p.  46).  Farther  to 
the  east  the  mountains  present  the  same  flat-topped  appearance,  with  young  \alleys 
cut  sharply  into  structural  slopes  which  must  have  assumed  their  present  smooth 
character  during  Tertiary  times,  when  the  mountains  stood  lower.  This  is  well 
illustrated  in  the  back  slope  of  the  Gaoudan  block,  which  is  without  difficulty 
reached  from  Anau,  6  miles  east  of  Askhabad.  The  faulted  face  of  this  block, 
as  seen  from  the  Meshed  road,  is  a  precipitous  escarpment  of  naked  rock.  The 
back  slope,  on  the  contrary,  is  a  long,  smooth  descent,  covered  with  soil,  and  closely 
corresponding  to  the  dip  of  the  limestone  strata.  In  this  are  cut  five  or  six  black 
gashes,  the  parallel  gorges  of  young  consequent  streams  which  have  cut  .so  deeply 
into  the  uplifted  mountain  mass  that  their  sides  appear  from  a  distance  to  be  perpen- 
dicular. East  of  Dushak,  where  the  railroad  leaves  the  ba.se  of  the  mountains,  the 
strata  of  Kopet  Dagh  become  softer  and  are  more  thoroughly  dissected,  but  the 
hilltops  still  retain  a  flat  aspect  and  the  vallejs  are  steep-sided  and  narrow. 

On  the  southern  side  of  the  mountains  there  is  clearer  evidence  of  recent 
uplift.  Looking  northward  from  Meshed  toward  Kopet  Dagh,  the  plain  is  bounded 
by  a  line  of  steep  bluffs,  which  rise  a  thousand  feet  in  one  or  two  great  jumps,  and 
continue  northwestward  scores  of  miles.  They  are  cut  in  strata,  apparently  Cretaceous 
limestone,  which  lie  nearly  horizontal,  with  a  slight  roll  from  northwest  to  .soiith- 
east.  The  steepness  and  straightness  of  the  mountain  front,  its  slight  dissection, 
and  the  absence  of  a  stream  competent  to  produce  such  effects  suggest  that  the 
escarpment  is  the  result  of  recent  faulting  by  which  the  mountains  were  uplifted 
and  subjected  to  renewed  dissection.  Between  the  top  of  the  bluffs  and  the  remark- 
ably smooth  crest  of  the  range  the  uplands  are  rounded  and  mature  in  form.  These 
same  features  continue  far  to  the  northwest,  but  in  the  neighborhood  of  Kuchan 
the  bluflfs  decrease  in  height  and  the  escarpment  comes  to  an  end.  Apparentl}'  the 
fault  gradually  decreases  in  amplitude,  and  near  Kuchan,  after  a  course  of  about  a 
hundred  miles,  is  transformed  into  a  simple  fle.xure  where  the  strata  of  the  moun- 
tains dip  south  westward  and  pass  under  the  plain.  In  the  neighborhood  of  the 
fle.xure  the  aspect  of  the  mountains  is  more  mature  than  in  the  regions  which  have 
been  uplifted  by  faulting.  This  g^eat  displacement  along  the  southern  border  of 
the  mountains  is  parallel  to  the  smaller  displacements  on  the  north  side  near 
Askhabad  and  seems  to  be  of  about  the  same  age. 

The  }'outliful  character  of  the  vallej-s  in  the  uplifted  block  of  Kopet  Dagh 
agrees  with  the  steep  fault  face  in  indicating  that  the  uplift  is  of  ver>'  recent  date. 
For  instance,  in  the  mountains  north  and  northwest  of  Meshed,  Curzon  (I,  pp.  122, 
123,  141)  describes  frequent  instances  of  magnificent  gorges  from  1,000  to  1,500  feet 


GEOLOGICAL    HISTORY   OF    NORTHEASTERN    PERSIA.  235 

deep  and  so  narrow  that  there  is  only  room  for  a  single  horseman  to  pass  between 
the  walls.  Northeast  of  Radkan  his  party  "plunged  into  a  deep  and  narrow  gorge 
that  cut  straight  into  the  heart  of  the  rock  wall  as  though  some  Titan's  axe  had 
slashed  a  savage  gash  in  the  solid  stone.  Its  walls  were  absolutely  perpendicular 
and  shaped  in  parts  by  the  stonns  of  centuries  into  windy  buttresses  and  towers, 
while  at  the  bottom  brawled  a  stream  which  had  hollowed  pools  in  the  rocks,  and 
up  and  across  the  bed  of  which  it  was  with  difficult}-  that  our  horses  could  be 
persuaded  to  climb.  The  formation  and  scener}'  of  this  magnificent  gorge,  whose 
walls  are  in  receding  terraces,  are  a  precise  reproduction  on  a  miniature  scale  of  the 
unequaled  canyon  of  the  Colorado  in  Utah."  This  comparison  is  ver\-  appropriate, 
for  just  as  the  horizontal  strata  of  the  Colorado  plateau  were  uplifted  at  the  time 
of  the  formation  of  the  Grand  Wash  fault  and  have  for  a  short  time  been  exposed 
to  dissection,  so,  at  a  correspondingly  recent  date,  the  slightly  tilted  strata  of  Kopet 
Dagh  were  uplifted  at  the  time  of  the  formation  of  the  Meshed  fault  and  are  now  in 
process  of  rapid  dissection. 

The  drainage  of  Kopet  Dagh  appears  complex.  In  part,  as  at  Anau,  it  is 
clearly  consequent,  depending  entirely  on  the  attitude  assumed  by  the  moimtains 
in  consequence  of  recent  earth  movements.  The  streams  follow  relatively  straight 
courses  in  steep-sided  young  gorges,  and  the  crests  of  the  ridges  form  the  main 
divides.  Oftener,  however,  as  Curzon  (I,  p.  144)  points  out,  the  streams  flow  along 
the  main  valleys  parallel  to  the  axis  of  the  mountains  for  a  certain  distance,  and 
then,  without  warning,  turn  suddenly  at  right  angles  and  pierce  the  mountain  ranges 
at  almost  their  highest  points,  cutting  gorges  of  almost  incredible  depth  and  grandeur. 
"The  base  of  these  defiles  seldom  admits  more  than  a  torrent  bed  blocked  with 
enormous  bowlders,  and  the  walls  are  frequently  vertical  to  a  height  of  from  500 
to  1,000  feet.  The  main  divides  are  seldom  the  highest  ranges  or  crests.  The 
streams  start  on  one  side  of  the  main  ranges,  and  after  running  parallel  to  them 
for  a  while,  break  through  to  the  other  side,  and  perhaps  run  in  an  opposite 
direction  for  a  time."  Apparently,  though  the  data  are  ver>'  scanty,  the  drainage 
of  Kopet  Dagh  was  originally  like  that  of  the  Appalachians,  subsequent  for  the 
most  part,  but  with  antecedent  remnants  of  a  former  consequent  drainage.  This 
has  been  further  complicated  by  the  recent  uplifts,  which  in  some  places  have 
caused  the  previous  drainage  channels  to  become  more  deeply  intrenched,  while 
elsewhere  the}'  have  given  rise  to  a  new  consequent  drainage. 

THE   MESHED   BASIN. 

The  so-called  Meshed  Valley  south  of  Kopet  Dagh  is  in  realit}-  a  narrow, 
cigar-shaped  basin  or  depression,  10  or  15  miles  wide,  and  at  least  150  miles  long 
from  northwest  to  southeast.  On  the  north  it  is  bounded  by  the  Meshed  fault ; 
on  the  south  it  seems  to  be  separated  from  the  mountains  of  Binalud  by  a  simple 
flexure.  At  Kuchan,  in  the  western  half  of  the  basin,  its  floor  is  arched  where  the 
Meshed  fault  becomes  a  flexure.  As  a  result,  the  basin  is  occupied  b\-  two  streams, 
probably  consequent,  one  of  which,  the  Atrek,  flows  northwest  to  the  Caspian  Sea, 
while  the  other,  the  Meshed  River,  or  Keshef  Rud,  flows  southeast  to  the  Heri  Rud ; 


236 


THE   BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA    AND    SISTAN. 


both  traverse  the  open  plain  at  first,  Inil  later  enter  gorges,  one  of  which,  along  the 
Atrek,  is  said  to  be  so  deep  and  narrow  as  to  afford  magnificent  scener)-  and  to  be 
impassable  fi^r  caravans. 

THE    KUCHAN    KARTHQOAKE. 

In  connection  with  the  earth-movements  by  which  the  Meshed  basin  has  been 
differentiated  from  Kopet  Dagh  and  Binalud  Knh  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  earth- 
quakes are  still  common  in  this  region,  and  are  most  violent  at  Kuchan,  where  the 
Meshed  fault  ends  in  a  flexure.  In  November,  1893,  an  unusually  severe  shock 
destroyed  Kuchan,  and  is  said  to  have  killed  from  5,000  to  7,000  people.  So  com- 
plete was  the  destruction  that  in  1904  the  place  had  almost  lost  the  semblance  of  a 
town  and  was  fast  becoming  a  mere  shapeless  mass  of  ruins.     The  surviving  inhab- 


Fig.  153. — The  ruins  of  Old  Kuchan. 

itants  moved  to  a  location  about  10  miles  farther  east  and  have  there  built  a  new 
town,  modeled  after  the  Russian  pattern,  with  broad  streets  shaded  with  numerous 
trees.  Earthquakes  still  occur  very  frequently,  but  are  reported  to  be  much  less  violent 
at  New  Kuchan  than  at  the  old  city.  A  few  of  the  people  of  Old  Kuchan  refused 
to  leave  the  ruins  after  the  great  earthquake  of  1893.  Digging  among  the  shat- 
tered houses,  they  piilled  out  old  timbers  and  set  them  up  to  form  houses  which 
should  be  both  rain-proof  and  earthquake-proof.  At  first  the  timbers  were  merely 
set  up  A-shape  against  a  ridge-pole,  like  roofs  without  walls,  and  the  interstices' 
were  filled  with  bushes  and  the  whole  plastered  with  mud.  When  a  more  pre- 
tentious house  was  desired,  a  second  structure  of  the  same  sort  was  erected  parallel 
to  the  first,  and  the  intervening  space  was  walled  in  and  bridged  with  a  flat  roof. 
Old  Kuchan  consists  to-day  of  a  heap  of  niins  on  which  are  irregularly  scattered 
earthquake-proof  houses  containing  from  one  to  three  rooms  (fig.  153). 


GEOLOGICAL    HISTORY   OF    NORTHEASTERN    PERSIA.  237 

THE  BINALUD  RANGE  AND  THK  NEIGHBORING   BASINS. 

Little  is  known  of  the  third  and  fonrth  divisions  of  Khorasan.  I  have  seen 
nothing  of  the  basins  and  shall  not  attempt  to  describe  them.  The  Binalud 
^Mountains,  as  seen  from  the  north,  present  somewliat  the  same  \ontliful  ajjpearance 
as  Kopet  Dagh,  though  to  a  less  degree.  I  was  told  by  Mr.  Clemenson,  of  Meshed, 
that  some  of  the  valleys  are  as  deep  and  narrow  as  those  of  the  northern  range. 
Farther  south,  however,  the  youthful  outlines  are  lost  and  the  mountains  assume  a 
mature  appearance.  The  component  rocks  also  change  in  character  and  become 
largely  igneous  or  of  Paleozoic  age.  It  appears  that  the  uplifting  of  the  mountains 
of  Eastern  Persia  has  proceeded  gradualh-  from  south  to  north.  On  the  edge  of  the 
Dasht-i-Kavir  the  mountains  are  mature,  farther  north  in  the  Binalud  range  they  are 
young,  while  still  farther  north  in  Kopet  Dagh  many  features  are  exceedingly  }-oung. 
In  Central  Asia  the  same  thing  seems  to  be  taking  place.  Step  by  step  the  ranges 
are  gaining  in  area  at  the  expense  of  the  basins,  and  the  mountainous  areas  of  the 
central  massif  of  Asia  seem  to  be  encroaching  northward  upon  the  great  plains. 

THE   .\FGH.\N    DEPRESSION. 
THE     HERI   RUD   VALLEY. 

The  Afghan  depression  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  low  mountains  through 
which  the  Heri  Rud  has  cut  its  way  out  from  the  basin  of  Iran,  (iatheriug  its 
waters  from  the  snowy  heights  of  Hindu  Kush,  in  the  most  inaccessible  portion  of 
northern  Afghanistan,  the  Heri  Rud  flows  westward  for  300  miles  between  towering 
mountain  ranges  which  gradually  decrease  in  height  and  finally  come  to  an  end 
at  the  edge  of  the  Afghan  depression.  Here  the  Heri  Rud  turns  abruptly  north, 
and  after  threading  its  way  through  a  gorge  emerges  upon  the  plain  of  Transcaspia. 
There,  after  receiving  the  waters  of  the  Keshef  Rud  from  Meshed,  it  takes  the  name  of 
Tejeu  River,  and  soon  loses  itself  in  the  swamps  and  sands  of  the  Turkoman  desert. 

Where  the  Heri  Rud  crosses  the  mountains,  the  eastern  portion  of  the  northern 
border  of  Iran  appears  to  be  offset  to  the  south.  The  Paropamisus  appears  to  be 
the  continuation  of  Kopet  Dagh,  and  the  mountains  south  of  Herat  the  continua- 
tion of  the  Binalud  range.  The  eastern  mountains  lie  roughly  50  miles  south  of 
their  Persian  counterparts.  This  break  between  the  ranges  of  Persia  and  Afghan- 
istan causes  the  depression  through  which  the  Heri  Rud  escapes  to  the  north. 
Little  is  known  of  the  mountains  which  border  the  depression.  Those  on  the 
west  at  the  end  of  Kopet  Dagh,  according  to  Mushketoff,  consist  for  the  most  part 
of  Cretaceous  limestone,  but  I  saw  several  large  basins  and  other  areas  where  the 
prevailing  fonnations  are  of  Tertiar)-  age.  The  topograph)-  on  the  whole  is  mature ; 
it  probably  corresponds  to  that  which  would  exist  farther  west  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Meshed  and  .\skhabad  if  no  recent  uplift  had  taken  place.  East  of  the  river 
the  topography  is  still  more  mature.  Holdich  (p.  113),  whose  opportunities  for 
observation  were  extensi\e,  describes  the  country  north  of  Herat  as  so  mature  that, 
although  the  passes  rise  to  a  height  of  4,800  feet,  wagons  can  be  driven  across  the 
mountains  in  spite  of  the  absence  of  roads.  In  the  region  about  60  miles  north 
of   Herat,  which    Mushketoflf  crroueouslv,  I   think,  marks    as    Triassic,  Holdich 


238  THE   BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA    AND    SISTAN. 

(pp.  133-134)  speaks  of  the  "soft-sided"  hills  as  being  worn  away  so  fast  that  "the 
mountains  ran  down  to  the  plains  in  rivulets  of  mud."  Because  of  this  rapid  process 
of  degradation  the  mountains  north  of  Herat  "are  certainly  not  such  as  were 
described  by  classical  writers  two  thousand  years  ago."  The  wonderful  rapidity  of 
erosion  is  illustrated  b>-  a  stoiy  related  by  Holdich  (p.  135)  of  a  place  in  this  region 
where  the  hilltops  consisted  of  a  stratified,  somewhat  loess-like  formation  of  recent 
date.  In  descending  from  the  top  of  a  hill  during  "quite  an  ordinary  hailstorm 
.  .  .  I  was  up  to  my  knees  in  a  moving  mass  of  liquid  mud.  ...  By 
evening  that  mud  had  spread  out  in  a  thin  but  very  measurable  sheet  of  surface 
soil  far  over  the  plains  all  around  the  hill ;  and  the  hill  was  definitely  smaller  and 
the  plains  definitely  higher  than  they  had  been  the  day  previous."  It  is  possible 
that  the  region  is  as  }oung  in  years  as  Kopet  Dagh,  although  the  topography  is 
mature  by  reason  of  the  softness  of  the  strata. 

A  section  along  the  Heri  Rud  from  Serakhs  southward  leads  to  the  same 
conclusion.  At  first  the  stream  flows  in  a  terraced  valley  intrenched  some  20  or  30 
feet  below  the  alluvial  plain  which  stretches  indefinitely  northward.  Toward  the 
south,  however,  it  traverses  a  region  of  low  hills  composed  of  an  alluvial  deposit, 
which  seems  to  be  of  the  same  character  as  the  plain  and  as  the  deposits  which  are 
now  being  laid  down  by  the  ri\er,  although  older  than  either.  Where  exposed  in 
section  by  the  undercutting  of  the  river,  as  at  Nauruzabad,  25  miles  south  of 
Serakhs,  for  example,  the  alluvium  consists  of  fine  stratified  silt,  brown  in  color, 


l=Cretaceous  limestone;  2=Tertiary  brown  limestone;  j^Tertiary  brown  sandstone;  4=Tertiary 
thin  clayey  limestone  ;  5— Tertiary  soft  sandstone  ;  6=  Tertiary  impure  yellow  limestone  ;  7=Ter- 
tiary  reddish-brown  sandstone  ;  8=  Tertiary  white  limestone. 

Fig.  154. — North  and  south  section  along  the  Heri  Rud  at  Pul-i-Khalun. 

and,  in  some  layers,  with  a  texture  much  like  typical  loess.  Overlying  this  is  thick 
gravel,  and  interstratified  with  it  are  bands  of  gravel  lenticular  in  shape  and  some- 
times reaching  a  thickness  of  5  or  10  feet.  This  deposit,  formed  apparentl}-  by 
the  ancient  Heri  Rud,  covers  most  of  this  corner  of  Transcaspia  from  the  Afghan 
border  northward.  Often  it  is  concealed  by  drifted  sand  or  loess ;  sometimes  it  is 
interrupted  by  projecting  bits  of  an  older  sandstone,  presumably  of  Tertiar>'  age, 
which  dips  gently  northward  where  I  saw  it  at  Pul-i-Khatuu  salt  lake.  Back  from 
the  river,  east  of  Pul-i-Khatun  (Ladies'  Bridge),  the  soft  allu\-ium  assumes  the  form 
of  low,  rolling  hills,  well  graded  and  mature,  which  toward  the  southeast  gradually 
increase  to  a  height  ot  4,000  feet.  The  main  valleys  are  bordered  by  terraces  cut 
for  the  most  part  in  gravel. 

At  Pul-i-Khatun  the  alluvium  comes  to  an  end  where  the  Heri  Rud  emerges 
from  the  mountains  through  a  narrow  gorge  composed  of  the  Tertiar}'  strata  shown 
in  the  accompanying  section  (fig.  154).  These  strata  form  a  smoothly  truncated 
ridge,  in  which  the  river  has  cut  a  sharp  notch.  South  of  this  Tertian,-  ridge  lies 
a  great  body  of  calcareous  Cretaceous  strata  forming  the  main  mass  of  the  moun- 


GEOLOGICAL    IILSTORY   OF    NORTHEASTERN    PERSIA. 


239 


tains.  The  mountain  tops  are  smoothly  rounded  ;  the  streams,  which  seem  to  be  in 
process  of  becoming  subsequent,  sometimes  follow  the  strike  of  the  strata,  but  often 
break  away,  and  there  are  a  number  of  young  gorges  such  as  that  of  the  Heri  Rud. 

The  histor}'  of  the  mountains  around  the  Heri  Rud  seems  to  have  been  similar 
to  that  of  the  more  western  parts  of  Kopet  Dagh.  Afteii  the  Tertiary  era  was  well 
under  way,  the  Cretaceous  formation  and  the  older  Tertiary-  strata  were  uplifted  and 
the  softer  strata,  at  least,  were  highly  folded.  Erosion  then  reduced  the  countn,-  to 
the  rounded  character  which  the  mountain  tops  now  show  and  to  the  flat  condition 
which  is  seen  in  the  flat-topped  Tertiar>'  ridge  at  Pul-i-Khatun.  The  waste  from 
the  mountains  formed  the  vast  alluvial  or  piedmont  deposits  through  which  the 
Heri  Rud  had  now  cut  its  way  below  the  ridge.  At  length  another  uplift  occurred 
corresponding  to  that  of  the  Meshed  fault,  though  on  a  much  smaller  scale,  and 
possibly  at  a  diflferent  time.  The  land  was  raised  to  approximately  its  present 
height,  and  the  work  of  cutting  the  Pul-i-Khatun  gorge  and  other  young  valleys 
was  inaugurated.  Since  the  completion  of  that  work,  or  during  the  latter  part  of 
its  accomplishment,  gravel  terraces  were  formed.  The  topography  of  to-day  consists 
of  three  portions — the  mature  topography  of  the  mountains,  remaining  as  an  inherit- 
ance from  a  preceding  c}cle,  the  >oung  topography  of  the  gorges,  and  the  mature 
topography  of  the  uplifted  piedmont  deposits,  which  is  as  young  as  the  gorges  in 
years,  although  n^ature  in  form. 


THE  EXTINCT   LAKE  OF  ZORABAD. 

Along  the  Heri  Rud,  within  the  area  of  Cretaceous  limestone  south  of  Pul-i- 
Khatun,  lies  the  basin  of  Zorabad.  On  the  Persian  side  of  the  river  it  extends 
northwest  and  southeast  parallel  to  the  mountains  for  a  distance  of  about  20  miles, 
with  a  width  of  from  6  to  8  miles.  On  the  Afghan  side  the  limits  are  not  known, 
but  they  are  probably  not  extensive.  This  basin  formerly  contained  a  lake,  as  is 
shown  b}-  an  extensive  deposit  of  pure,  bluish-white  clay  or  marl,  ver)-  homogeneous 
and  almost  unhanded,  into  which  the  terraced  streams  have  cut  to  a  depth  of  at 
least  100  feet.  Upon  the  clay,  and  sharph-  contrasting  with  it,  lies  a  hard  cap  of 
from  5  to  20  feet  of  coarse  gravel.  Near  the  Heri  Rud,  in  the  deepest  portion  of 
the  basin,  both  foruiations  increase  in  thickness.  The  clay,  as  would  naturalh-  be 
the  case  with  a  lacustrine  deposit,  preser\-es  the  same  character.  The  conglomerate 
becomes  finer  in  texture  and  at  last  passes  into  silt.     Near  the  edge  of  the  basin,  on 

the  south  side  at  least,  the  clays  and 
the  overlying  gravel  are  slightly 
warped  and  have  been  beveled  by 
a  grade  plain  fonned  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  cycle,  during  which  the 
present  valleys  were  incised  in  the 
lake  deposits  after  the  draining  of 
the  lake.  Here  it  is  seen  that  under 
the  clays,  and  apparenth"  conformable  with  them,  lies  a  thick  series  of  sediments, 
consisting  of  sandstone  and  conglomerate  in  the  upper  portion  and  the  thick  shale 


a=shale  ;  6=sandstone  and  conglomerate  ;  c=lacustrine  clay  ; 
rf^recent  gravel. 

Fig.  155. — Section  near  Khitayi,  on  the  southern  border  of   the 

Zorabad  basin. 


240  TIIK    liASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND    SISTAN. 

below  (fig.  155).    The  whole  series  has  been  much  folded  along  the  edge,  but  appears 
to  lie  more  nearly  in  its  original  position  out  toward  the  center  of  the  basin. 

The  known  facts  in  regard  to  Zorabad  are  too  few  to  warrant  any  hard  and  fast 
conclusions  as  to  its  liistory.  The  most  probable  lupothesis  is  that  in  early  Tertiary 
times  apparently  a  body  of  shales  was  deposited  under  what  were  presumably  marine 
conditions.  At  length  the  water  retired  and  heavy  conglomerates  and  sandstones 
were  deposited  either  subaerially  or  in  very  shallow  water  of  fluctuating  depth. 
Toward  the  close,  or  perhaps  during  the  progress  of  this  deposition,  earth-movements 
were  in  progress  which  dimini.shed  the  size  of  the  basin  and  uplifted  its  sides,  as  is 
shown  by  the  crumpling  of  the  strata  along  the  edge.  Eventually  the  northern 
border  was  raised  so  high  that  the  Hcri  Rud  was  checked  and  the  basin  was  con- 
verted into  a  lake  where  clayey  marls  were  deposited.  It  is  proljable  that  these 
movements  were  contemporaneous  with  those  which  uplifted  the  alluvial  deposits 
southeast  of  Seraklis  and  inaugurated  the  present  cycle  of  erosion,  for  the  cutting 
of  the  gorge  at  Pul-i-Khatun  must  have  proceeded  pari  passu  with  the  draining  of 
the  lake  which  now  ensued.  After  the  lake  had  disappeared  the  lacustrine  deposits 
were  covered  with  the  subaerial  gravels  which  are  so  common  in  arid  regions. 
To-day  the  deepening  of  the  gorge  of  the  Heri  Rud  has  permitted  the  dissection 
of  both  the  clays  and  the  gravels.  The  most  notable  fact  in  regard  to  Zorabad  is 
that  we  have  here  on  a  small  scale  the  same  phenomenon  which  will  presently  be 
described  in  other  basins  of  Persia,  and  which  seems  to  have  taken  place  in  some  of 
the  basins  of  Turkestan.  The  area  of  deposition  along  the  edges  of  the  basin  is 
continually  in  process  of  folding,  and  tlie  folding  progresses  gradually  inward. 

THE   AFGHAN   DEPRESSION   SOUTH    OF    THE    RUSSO-AFGHAN    BOUNDARY. 

On  the  southern  rim  of  the  Zorabad  Ixisin  the  fieri  Rud  enters  the  ancient  lake 
bed  through  a  deep  gorge  cut  in  Cretaceous  limestone  and  probably  of  nearly  the 
same  age  as  the  corresponding  gorge  of  Pul-i-Khatun  on  the  north  side.  Upstream 
the  river  flows  through  a  broad  open  valley,  which  is  in  realit\-  another  large  basin 
extending  northwest  for  60  miles  past  Turbat-i-Sheikh  Jam.  The  innnediate 
river  valley  is  bounded  by  the  broad  terraces  cut  in  gravel  and  in  an  underlying 
deposit  of  unconsolidated  silts.  The  silts  are  sliglitly  warped  and  are  truncated  by 
the  terraces.  They  will  l:)e  described  later.  Opposite  the  southeastern  corner  of  the 
Jam  basin,  and  offset  to  the  south  from  it,  just  as  the  mountain  ranges  on  the  two 
sides  of  the  Heri  Rud  are  offset  from  one  another,  lies  the  basin  of  Herat,  Inroad  at 
first,  but  gradually  contracting  into  the  stupendous  gorge  of  the  upper  river.  The 
Jam-Herat  basin  is  bordered  on  the  south  by  low  hills,  cliiefl)-  of  sandstone,  I;e>ond 
which  the  smooth,  white  sheet  of  the  "  Nemeksar,"  or  playa  of  Khaf,  and  the  smaller 
sheets  of  its  neighbors  fill  the  bottom  of  a  depression  which  is  chiefly  remarkaljle 
for  the  large  number  of  half-buried  momitains  which  rise  on  every  hand  like  islands 
in  an  archipelago.  It  seems  as  though  a  once  mountainous  region  had  been  depressed 
to  form  a  hollow,  in  which  the  mountains  still  stand  as  of  old,  although  some  have 
been  buried  in  detritus  to  the  waist,  others  to  the  neck,  and  some  are  doubtless 
wholly  hidden. 


GEOLO(;iCAL    HISTORY    OF    NORTHEASTERN    PERSIA.  241 

Thus  far,  for  a  distance  of  250  miles  from  vSerakhs  on  tlie  north  to  the  farther 
side  of  the  basin  of  "Nemeksar"  on  the  south,  the  Afj>^han  depression  presents  the 
appearance  of  an  undulatin<>-  hollow  with  nearly  equal  slopes  from  east  and  west. 
Farther  south,  however,  the  west  side  of  the  hollow  becomes  short  and  steep,  and 
there  seems  to  have  been  faulting^  as  well  as  warping.  Near  Meliki,  at  the  southern 
end  of  the  Nemeksar  basin,  the  western  boundary  of  the  depression  consists  of  a 
long  line  of  mountains  running  nearly  north  and  south,  with  a  remarkably  straight 
front.  They  are  not  dissected  by  the  deep  re-entrant  valleys  filled  with  gravel  which 
are  so  characteristic  a  feature  of  most  of  the  mountains  in  the  basin  of  Iran.  The 
spurs  between  the  valleys  end  alnu]3tly  and  steepen  toward  the  front  as  though  they 
were  the  remnants  of  the  facets  of  a  fault  scarp  ( Davi.s,  c,  p.  14(8-1 54).  Apparently  this 
steep  escarpment  marks  a  relatively  recent  fault  with  a  heave  of  many  hundred  feet 
on  the  west  side.  This  is  borne  out  by  the  appearance  of  the  top  of  the  upheaved  block. 
From  a  study  of  the  map  and  from  the  appearance  of  the  escarpment  from  below 
one  expects  to  ascend  to  the  top  of  the  ridge  and  enter  a  region  of  ridges  and  vallevs 
like  the  ordinar)'  mountain  districts  of  America  and  Europe.  The  top  of  the  escarp- 
ment fulfills  this  expectation,  for  it  is  a  distinct  ridge,  at  an  elevation  of  5,000  to 
7,000  feet.*  Toward  the  west  the  ridge  descends  much  less  steeply  than  toward 
the  east,  and  at  a  height  of  about  4,000  feet  merges  into  plains  of  gravel  and  silt  of 
the  same  sort  as  those  on  the  down-faulted  side,  except  that  they  stand  some  2,000 
feet  higher  and  the  mountains  surrounding  them  are  le.ss  deeply  buried  in  gravel. 
In  other  words,  the  country  on  either  side  of  the  fault  appears  to  have  been  origin- 
ally of  the  .same  type,  the  ordinary  mountain-girt  basin  type  of  Eastern  Persia.  One 
side  was  uplifted  and  expo.sed  to  somewhat  greater  rainfall  and  erosion  ;  the  other 
was  depressed  and  exposed  to  diminished  rainfall  and  increa.sed  deposition.  Hence 
the  upland  is  a  mountainous  region  containing  basins  floored  with  gra\el ;  the 
lowland  is  a  basin,  almost  filled  with  gravel,  from  which  project  mountain  tops. 

Between  the  hollow  of  Nemek.sar  and  the  much  larger  hollow  of  Sistan  lies 
the  Dasht-i-Naumad,  or  Desert  of  Despair,  the  central  portion  of  which  can  not  be 
crossed  for  lack  of  water.  It  does  not  appear  to  differ  essentially  from  the  lifeless 
desert  wastes  of  silt  and  gravel  which  floor  the  hollow  of  Nemeksar.  On  the  edges, 
at  least,  it  contains  the  usual  complement  of  buried  mountains.  Evenwhere 
dreariness  and  desolation  are  the  rule.  The  Desert  of  Despair  is  a  place  where 
men  and  animals  die  of  hunger  and  thirst  and  their  companions  have  no  pit%-.  .\ 
caravan  of  Afghans  which  crossed  our  track  was  about  to  return  across  the  northern 
edge  of  the  desert  with  salt  from  Nemeksar  to  be  sold  at  Sebzavar  in  Afghanistan. 
They  reported  that  on  the  outward  journey  the>'  had  been  delated  and  several  of 
their  number  had  died  of  hunger. 

"  But  had  the  rest  of  you  no  bread  ?  "  "  Yes,  we  had  enouiih,  but  we  could  not 
give  any  to  them,  for  we  might  have  suffered  from  hunger  ourselves.'' 

The  desert  makes  men  lose  everj-  sentiment  except  the  desire  to  get  safel)-  to 
the  other  side. 


*Tlic  ridge  consists  of  a  cap  of  limestone  lying  unconforniably  on  a  complex  of  igneous  rocks 
composed  chiefly  of  dark  traps  shot  tliroiigh  with  dykes  and  masses  of  light-colored  felsite,  and 
occasionally  interspersed  with  bodies  of  highly  metamorphosed  slate. 


242  THE   BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND   SISTAN. 

The  remainder  of  the  Afghan  depression  may  be  smnmed  up  briefl>-.  In  the 
southwestern  corner  of  Afjjhanistan  lies  the  hollow  of  Sistan,  bounded  to  the  west 
by  the  unknown,  and  probably  unknowable,  escarpment  of  Palan  Kuh  (Panther 
Mountain).  Then  comes  the  God-i-Zirrah  in  Baluchistan,  a  part  of  the  Sistan 
hollow;  and  lastly,  to  the  southeast,  the  hollow  of  Mashkel,  west  of  which,  near 
the  edge  of  the  escarpment,  lies  the  active  volcano  of  Kuh-i-Taftan.  From  north 
to  south  the  Afghan  depression,  varietl  as  it  is  in  character,  forms  a  continuous  whole. 
So,  too,  from  the  Jam  basin  southward,  does  the  escarpment  which  foniis  the  western 
edge  and  dixides  the  basin  of  Sistan  from  that  of  Persia.  It  is  not  by  accident  that 
the  boundary  between  Afghanistan  and  Persia  is  located  along  this  line.  The  Heri 
Rud,  so  long  as  it  flows  in  a  gorge,  forms  an  unmistakaljle  frontier  which  can  not 
easily  be  crossed.  The  deserts  of  Nemeksar  and  the  Desert  of  Despair  form  an 
even  more  effectual  barrier.  In  two  places  the  frontier  is  weak.  One  is  where  the 
Heri  Rud  turns  northward  and  the  plains  of  Jam  and  Herat  coalesce.  At  this 
point  there  is  no  natural  barrier,  although  the  land  southwest  of  the  bend  of  the 
river  is  so  nearly  desert  and  of  so  little  value  that  it  affords  small  provocation  for 
quarrels.  The  other  weakness  is  at  Si.stan,  where  the  boundar)'  arbitrarily  bends 
eastward  to  the  Helmund  River,  leaving  the  incomparable  natural  boundary-  afforded 
by  the  absolute  desert  at  the  base  of  Palan  Kuh.  Geographically,  the  whole  of 
Sistan  belongs  to  Afghanistan.  Until  the  political  boundary  coincides  with  the 
natural  boundary  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  Persia  and  Afghanistan  can  avoid 
quarrels. 

THE   TERTIARY   HISTORY   OF   THE    BASINS   OF   EASTERN   PERSIA. 

In  a  preceding  paragraph  an  outline  has  been  given  of  the  histoiy  of  one  of 
the  minor  basins  of  northeastern  Persia. 

The  Zorabad  Basin. — Apparently  the  Zorabad  basin  was  first  occupied  by  the  sea 
and  later  became  dr)'  land.  Then,  by  the  warping  of  the  earth's  cni.st,  it  was  con- 
verted into  a  lake,  which  in  time  was  drained  by  the  cutting  of  a  gorge.  As  the 
water  of  the  lake  receded  gravel  was  washed  in  from  the  sides  and  covered  the  lake 
deposits.  Since  that  time  the  gorge  at  the  outlet  has  been  cut  deeper,  the  \'arious 
deposits  have  all  been  more  or  less  dissected,  and  terraces  have  been  formed.  At 
inter\'als  during  the  progress  of  these  events  warping  has  gone  on  in  such  a  fashion 
that  the  size  of  the  basin  has  continually  diminished  and  all  the  deposits  except  the 
most  recent  gravels  have  been  warped  along  the  edges,  although  apparently  remain- 
ing horizontal  in  the  center  of  the  basin.  Most  of  this  histoiy  probably  belongs 
to  Tertiary  times,  although  the  dissection  of  the  lake  deposits  and  the  formation  of 
the  terraces  almost  certainly  belong  to  the  present  geological  era. 

In  order  to  understand  the  geological  history-  of  Persia  it  will  be  necessary  to 
ascertain  to  what  extent  a  similar  series  of  events  has  occurred  in  other  basins. 
What  few  facts  are  known  indicate  that  the  history  of  all  the  basins  is  similar  to 
that  of  Zorabad,  with  the  exception  of  the  lake  episode.  The  only  lakes  of  which 
we  have  record  in  the  other  basins  occurred  at  a  later  time  and  were  due  to  changes 
of  climate  rather  than  to  warping  of  the  crust. 


GEOLOGICAL    HISTORY   OF    NORTHEASTERN    PERSIA.  243 

The  Jatn  Basin. — ^The  deposits  of  the  Jam  basin  south  of  Zorabad  are  disclosed 
in  a  number  of  terraces  along  the  Heri  Rud  and  its  tributaries.  They  consist  of  fine- 
grained brown  silts,  neither  sand  nor  clay,  but  between  the  two.  Most  of  the 
silts  are  reddish-brown  in  color,  others  are  brown,  brownish-purple,  or  green. 
They  contain  gypsnm  in  thin  and  verj'  pure  transparent  layers,  which  are  some- 
times so  abundant  that  the  ground  is  white  with  fragments.  Often  the  strata  lie 
horizontal,  but  there  are  many  places  where  warping  has  taken  place.  For  instance, 
south  of  Danidue  a  terrace  180  feet  high  consists  of  a  cap  of  coarse  slaty  gravel 
lying  unconformably  on  silts  dipping  6°  N.  The  edges  of  the  Jam  basin  were  not 
seen,  and  we  can  not  be  sure  whether  the  amount  of  warping  increases  from  the 
center  outward. 

An  interesting  point  in  regard  to  the  Jam  deposits  is  that  as  a  whole  they  much 
resemble  the  Moencopie  beds  which  occupy  so  large  an  area  in  the  plateau  region 
of  the  United  States  (Goldthwait,  pp.  203,  205,  210).  Not  only  is  the  general 
character  of  the  two  formations  similar,  but  the  brilliant  color  and  peculiar  fonn 
of  the  cliffs  are  strikingly  alike,  while  in  each  case  a  gravel  cap  protects  the  soft 
underlying  silts.  Even  the  ten-aces  present  the  same  appearance,  although  those  of 
America  are  structural,  while  those  of  Persia  are  fluviatile. 

The  Ncmcksar  Basin. — In  the  Nemeksar  basin,  75  miles  south  of  the  Jam  River, 
many  of  the  phenomena  of  the  Jam  basin  are  repeated.  The  gravel-capped  terraces 
bordering  the  playa  consist  of  a  soft,  fine  silt,  mostly  red,  but  sometimes  slightly  green, 
in  which  are  numerous  thin  layers  of  transparent  crystalline  gypsum.  No  warping 
of  the  silts  was  here  observed,  but  the\-  were  seen  onh-  near  the  center  of  the  basin. 

The  Chau  Bineh  Basin. — At  Chau  Bineh,  near  Durukh,  about  90  miles  south- 
east of  Birjand,  thick  warped  clays  were  noted,  purple,  red,  and  green,  like  those 
of  the  Jam  basin.  They  lie  unconformably  against  a  mass  of  ancient  volcanic  rocks 
full  of  serpentine  and  iron  pyrites.  The  Durukh  basin,  on  the  edge  of  which  they 
lie,  is  tributary-  to  Sistan. 

The  Ouihak  Basin. — This  basin  and  the  following  one  lie  on  the  edge  of  the 
main  basin  of  Persia,  the  Daslit-i-Lut,  and  would  discharge  into  it  if  supplied  with 
sufficient  water.  Yet  each  possesses  its  own  individuality  and  is  a  separate  basin 
with  its  own  "kavir"  or  salt  playa  occupying  the  lowest  portion.  The  basin  of 
Chahak  lies  two  days'  journey,  40  or  50  miles,  northwest  of  Birjand,  on  the  road  to 
Tun.  Around  the  playa  at  the  bottom  of  the  basin  the  waves  of  a  fonner  lake, 
have  cut  bluffs  of  considerable  height.  For  the  most  part  these  are  composed  of  a 
hard  cla>-  shale,  partly  green  and  partly  red,  which  usually  lies  horizontal,  although 
in  some  places  it  is  much  folded.  Three  or  four  miles  northwest  of  the  village  of 
Chahak  the  bluffs,  about  100  feet  high,  are  capped  with  la\'a  and  disclose  the 
following  section,  beginning  from  the  top : 

Feet. 

Dark  volcanic  trap 20 

Green  clay  shale 40 

Pink  shale 10 

Yellow  clay  shale S 

Green  clay  shale 20 


244  THE   BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND    SISTAN. 

The  lava  cap  lies  horizontal ;  the  shales  dip  about  20°  to  the  north  or  north- 
west. The  shales  are  bnt  slightly  consolidated,  and  do  not  appear  to  be  of  great 
age.  Their  resemblance  to  the  formations  of  Sistan,  to  be  described  later,  is  so 
close  that  it  may  be  significant. 

Twenty  miles  southeast  of  the  above  section,  at  a  point  a  few  miles  west  of 
Husseinabad,  on  the  main  tributarj'  of  the  Chahak  basin,  the  valley  walls  consist  of 
highly  folded  green  clay  shales  of  much  the  same  composition  as  those  of  the 
section  just  given,  although  more  iiidurated.  It  is  probable  that  they  form  the 
lower  members  of  the  same  series,  for  similar  shales  are  seen  at  intervals  between 
the  two  sections.  The  Husseinabad  shales  show  a  strong  overthrust  from  east  to 
west ;  that  is,  out  from  the  mountains  toward  the  great  basin  of  the  Dasht-i-IyUt 
(fig.  160).  It  should  be  noted  that  these  beds,  like  the  older  shales  at  Zorabad, 
must  have  been  deposited  in  water  of  at  least  moderate  depth,  which  preserved 
nearly  the  same  conditions  for  a  long  period.  The  recent  strata  at  Chahak,  on  the 
other  hand,  like  those  at  Sistan,  seem  to  have  been  deposited  under  changing  condi- 
tions, which  favored  first  the  deposition  of  green  and  then  of  pink  cLins.  In  the 
next  basin  we  shall  come  to  pink  beds  deposited  entirely  under  subaerial  conditions. 

The  Bajislan  Basin. — Bajistan,  40  miles  north  of  Tim,  lies  on  the  southern 
margin  of  a  large  "kavir,"  or  salt  playa,  which,  according  to  Curzon's  map,  extends 
some  75  miles  northeast  and  southwest,  and  from  10  to  30  in  the  other  direction. 
The  playa,  at  most  times,  contains  a  ver)-  small  amount  of  standing  water  surrounded 
bv  a  broad  white  plain  of  salt  mixed  with  silt,  nniddy  in  winter,  dry  and  powdery 
in  summer.  About  25  miles  northeast  of  the  edge  of  the  playa  and  20  miles  south- 
west of  Turbat-i-Haideri,  the  gently  sloping  plain  of  Bajistan  rises  into  a  low  line 
of  hills  a  thousand  feet  above  the  "  kavir."  These  hills  are  composed  for  the  most 
part  of  reddish  or  pink  silts  which  attain  a  thickness  of  several  hundred  feet.  At 
intervals  the  silts  are  interrupted  by  layers  of  sand  from  10  to  20  feet  thick  and  of 
a  reddish-brown  color.  These  strata  of  alternating  silt  and  sand  are  soft  and  uncon- 
solidated ;  they  are  folded  to  such  an  extent  that  dips  of  15°  are  not  uncommon, 
and  they  extend  around  the  edge  of  the  basin  and  along  its  sides  for  some  miles. 
Apparentl)-  they  were  deposited  in  the  basin  at  a  time  when  it  was  larger.  They  have 
since  been  uplifted  and  warped,  while  the  central  deposits  into  which  they  merge 
have  remained  midisturbed.  In  stnicture,  color,  and  texture  the  Bajistan  strata 
suggest  the  more  sandy  portions  of  the  pink  strata  at  Sistan.  They  bear  a  stronger 
resemblance  to  the  pink  deposits  of  the  Tertiary  in  Central  Turkestan  and  the 
Kashgar  basin.  To  a  less  degree  they  resemble  the  deposits  of  the  Jam  and  Nemeksar 
basins,  although  at  Bajistan  no  gypsum  was  noticed.  It  is  probable  that  all  these 
red  and  pink  strata  are  of  subaerial  origin  or  were  deposited  in  verj-  shallow  saline 
playas  or  estuaries.  No  other  explanation  seems  to  account  for  the  absence  of  fossils, 
the  presence  of  gypsum,  the  red  color,  and  the  alternations  between  sand  and  finer  silt. 

OTHBR    LOCALITIES. 

Blanford  cites  a  few  instances  of  deposits  which  apparently  belong  to  the  same 
class  as  those  mentioned  above.  Near  Abarik  («',  p.  485),  on  the  edge  of  the 
Dasht-i-Lut  between   Bam  and  Kinnan,  "  are  some  high  cliffs  of  shales  and  con- 


GEOLOGICAL    HISTORY    OF    NORTHEASTERN    PERSIA.  245 

glomerates,  ver>'  slightlj-  consolidated,  and  to  all  appearance  of  comparatively  recent 
origin.  The  shales  are  rather  brightly  colored,  greenish-white,  red,  etc.  .  .  . 
The  beds  near  the  river  are  contorted  and  sometimes  vertical ;  farther  away  they 
become  more  horizontal  and  appear  to  pass  up  into  the  alluvial  beds  of  the  great 
plain  to  the  northward." 

Elsewhere  (/;,  pp.  493-494)  Blanford  speaks  of  red  shales,  or  ferruginous  shales 
and  sandy  beds,  sometimes  banded  red  and  white,  and  often  much  decompo.sed, 
which  lie  in  tilted  positions  against  the  limestone  of  the  mountains  on  the  edge  of 
the  basins  west  of  Kirman  and  seem  to  lia\'e  been  brought  to  their  present  positions 
by  faulting  and  folding.  From  the  description  it  seems  as  though  these  beds  must 
closely  resemble  those  of  Hajistan. 

SUMMARY. 

The  facts  set  forth  above,  so  far  as  they  warrant  any  conclusion,  suggest  that  in 
Eastern  Persia  the  lower  strata  of  the  basins  are  generally  greenish  shales,  which  are 
now  exposed  along  the  edges  of  the  basins  where  they  have  been  extensively  warped 
and  compressed.  Above  them  occur  reddish  silts  containing  more  or  less  sand  and 
g\'psum  and  warped  like  the  underlying  shales,  although  to  a  less  extent.  In  certain 
places  toward  the  top  of  the  series  the  red  strata  alternate  with  green  clays.  Above 
all  lie  the  deposits  of  silt  and  gravel  which  are  to-day  accumulating.  Although 
these  different  strata  show  varying  degrees  of  warping  along  the  edges  of  the  basins, 
it  is  noticeable  that  toward  the  centers  they  approach  the  horizontal  position.  It 
is  probable  that  in  the  centers  of  many  of  the  basins  an  uninterrupted  series  of 
strata  has  been  deposited  from  the  time  of  the  post-Cretaceous  uplift  of  the  country" 
until  now.  At  first  a  shallow  sea  or  large  lakes  probably  occupied  the  central 
portions  of  Iran  and  allowed  the  deposition  of  the  green  shales.  Later,  as  the  great 
basin  was  broken  into  smaller  basins,  the  larger  bodies  of  water  gave  place  to 
smaller  ones,  and  these,  under  the  influence  of  a  drj-  climate,  gave  place  to  playas 
or  shallow  salt  lakes  where  the  prevailing  deposits  were  reddish  silts.  Still  the 
process  of  deepening  the  basins  and  decreasing  their  area  went  on,  with  the  result 
that  the  green  shales  were  more  highly  warped  and  the  red  deposits  were  also 
uplifted  along  the  borders  of  the  basin  and  were  exposed  to  erosion.  Meanwhile 
the  superficial  deposits  which  now  cover  the  plains  were  laid  down  and  the  country 
assumed  its  present  form.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  ever)'  basin  has  gone 
through  exactl)'  the  same  process,  or  that  a  single  process  has  everywhere  taken 
place  at  the  same  time.  Accidents  have  intervened.  At  Zorabad  the  damming  of 
the  Heri  Rud  formed  a  lake  and  greatly  altered  the  course  of  events.  At  Sistan, 
and  probably  elsewhere,  a  series  of  lakes  appears  to  have  occupied  the  basin  during 
the  glacial  period.  Nevertheless  the  general  course  of  events  was  a  gradual  progress 
from  larger  basins  to  smaller  basins,  and  from  subaqueous  to  subaerial  deposition. 


246  THE   BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND    SISTAN. 

PERSIA  AS  A  TYPICAL  EXAMPLE  OF  AN  ARID  COUNTRY. 

Eastern  Persia  is  in  the  stage  of  physiographic  development  where  the  influence 
of  aridity  is  most  prominent.  Tlie  climate  of  the  world  as  a  whole  is  such  that  soil 
is  abundant,  lakes  have  outlets,  rivers  discharge  into  the  sea,  and  agriculture  can  be 
carried  on  without  irrigation.  Such  conditions  are  .so  common  that  it  is  hard  to 
realize  that  they  are  merely  the  effects  of  one  special  variety  of  climate.  In  Persia, 
however,  where  the  whole  aspect  of  nature  is  different  from  that  to  which  we  are 
accustomed,  it  becomes  easy  to  appreciate  the  influence  of  climate.  The  funda- 
mental difference  between  the  topography  of  Persia  and  that  of  a  well-watered 
country  like  the  eastern  United  States  is  that  in  the  latter  the  main  forms  are  deter- 
mined by  the  forces  of  erosion  acting  under  the  guidance  of  rock-stnicture  and  rock- 
texture,  while  in  Persia  a  large  proportion  of  the  main  fonns  are  detennined  by 
deposition,  which  tends  to  conceal  and  nullify  the  influence  of  rock  structure  and 
texture.     This  can  best  be  illustrated  by  considering  the  life  history  of  Persia. 

THE   CYCLE   OF   EROSION   AND    DEPOSITION    IN    PERSI.\. 


The  changes  through  which  Persia  has  passed  in  the  earlier  stages  of  its  de\-elo]> 
ment,  and  also  those  of  the  future,  must  in  part  be  inferred,  for,  so  far  as  I  am  aware, 
no  part  of  the  country  is  in  the  stages  of  extreme  youth  or  old  age,  and  no  tjpical 
examples  of  these  stages  have  been  described  elsewhere.  The  present  cycle  of 
erosion  in  Persia  was  introduced  by  the  formation  of  inclosed  basins,  the  most 
striking  topographic  feature  of  the  couutr)-.  As  we  have  already  seen,  the  basins 
are  not  due  to  any  peculiar  form  of  warping,  but  rather  to  the  arid  climate  which 
has  long  prevailed.  This  is  well  exemplified  in  the  three  basins  of  Zorabad,  Jam, 
and  Meshed,  in  the  northeastern  corner  of  the  countr}-,  which  receive  an  abundant 
supply  of  water  from  high  mountains,  and  hence  are  provided  with  outlets  and 
are  fast  being  transfonned  into  valleys  of  erosion.  During  the  youth  of  the  country 
these  three  basins,  like  their  neighbors,  such  as  Pul-i-Khatun,  to  be  described  later, 
Nemeksar,  Bajistan,  and  others,  were  completely  closed  and  in  one  case  at  least 
contained  a  lake.  During  early  youth  it  is  probable  that  all  the  basins  were  com- 
pletely closed.  At  first  their  development  must  have  proceeded  in  much  the  same 
way  as  that  of  the  lake-filled  basins  of  moister  regions.  The  mountains  also  appear 
to  have  developed  in  the  same  wa)-  as  in  lands  of  greater  rainfall.  Kopet  Dagh  is 
the  best  Persian  example  which  I  have  seen  of  young  mountains  developed  under 
conditions  of  aridity.  Here,  however,  much  of  the  topography  is  mature,  and  the 
altitude  of  the  mountains  has  increased  the  rainfall  so  that  the  erosion  is  not  greatly 
different  from  that  of  America  and  Europe.  A  better  example  of  young  mountains 
in  an  arid  region  is  furnished  by  the  southern  border  of  the  Tian  Shan  plateau  on  the 
edge  of  the  Kashgar  basin.  As  there  exemplified,  the  chief  characteristic  of  such 
mountains  is  extreme  sharpness  of  form  and  utter  nakedness. 


PERSIA   AS   AN    EXAMPLE   OF    AN    ARID    COUNTRY.  247 

MATDRITY. 

As  youth  advances  toward  maturity  the  difference  between  the  physiographic 
fonns  of  a  moist  country  and  of  a  dry  countr>-  increases  apace.  At  the  beginning 
of  maturity  in  a  laud  of  sufficient  rainfall  the  lakes  have  for  the  most  part  been  drained, 
and  the  topographic  fonns  are  almost  universally  due  to  erosion  guided  by  the  struc- 
ture and  texture  of  the  rocks.  In  Persia,  the  t>'pical  drj-  countrj-,  on  the  other  liand, 
almost  none  of  the  lakes  have  been  drained,  and  the  proportion  of  the  surface  where 
topographic  fonns  produced  by  erosion  prevail,  has  reached  and  passed  a  maxinuim. 
Indeed,  the  process  of  decreasing  the  area  subject  to  erosion  goes  on  from  earl}-  jouth 
until  old  age,  and  is  perhaps  the  most  prominent  characteristic  of  the  activities  con- 
trolled by  an  arid  climate.  The  streams  which  come  from  the  mountains  laden  with 
detritus  are  compelled  to  deposit  much  of  their  load  on  reaching  the  foot  of  the  moun- 
tains and  changing  from  a  steep  to  a  gentle  grade.  Even  a  small  stream  can  flow  a 
long  distance  in  a  very  arid  region,  provided  it  is  confined  to  a  small  rock  channel 
where  there  is  little  opportunity  for  evaporation.  As  soon,  however,  as  a  region  of 
deposition  is  reached,  the  stream  begins  to  spread  into  many  channels,  which  reduces 
the  already  diminished  velocity  and  causes  further  deposition.  Moreover,  the  stream 
itself  quickly  comes  to  an  end,  for  much  water  is  lost  by  reason  of  the  larger  area 
exposed  to  evaporation  in  the  many  channels,  and  even  more  sinks  into  the 
thirsty  gravel.  For  this  reason  the  small  running  streams  of  Persia  are  almost 
entirely  confined  to  the  higher  mountains  and  are  continually  growing  shorter 
Each  new  addition  of  gravel  to  the  fan  of  a  stream  represents  a  decrease  in  the 
height  of  the  mountains  which  in  the  course  of  ages  is  sufficient  to  cause  a  decrease 
in  rainfall.  It  also  raises  the  height  of  the  fan  itself,  and  compels  the  stream  to 
divide  and  to  lose  itself  in  the  gravel  at  a  higher  elevation  than  fonnerly.  Both 
these  processes  tend  to  shorten  the  streams  and  cause  them  to  deposit  their  loads 
higher  and  higher,  building  up  the  fans  indefinitely.  Everjthing  tends  to  increase 
the  areas  of  deposition  until  finally  basin  coalesces  with  basin  ;  the  lower  hills  are 
buried  out  of  sight ;  those  of  greater  height  rise  as  islands  in  vast  expanses  of 
gravel ;  and  even  the  highest  nioimtains  are  half-buried  in  great  fans  of  the  same 
material.  Thus  in  full  maturity  only  the  mountains  present  fonns  due  to  erosion, 
and  even  of  the  mountains  the  lower  portions  are  buried  by  constantly  increasing 
products  of  deposition. 

This  is  the  condition  which  has  been  reached  in  Eastern  Persia  south  of  Binalud 
Kuh.  One  of  its  prominent  characteristics  is  the  isolation  of  the  mountains,  which 
is  well  seen  in  the  basin  of  Nemeksar.  One  of  the  most  striking  examples  is  in 
the  playa  of  Kulberenj,  south  of  the  main  playa  of  Nemeksar.  From  the  ver)' 
floor  of  the  playa  rise  several  small,  dark  islands,  whose  roots  seem  to  descend 
beneath  the  plain  as  though  these  were  the  pointed  tops  of  what  once  were  high 
hills  or  mountains. 

The  erosion  0/  the  mouiitaiiis. — Another  prominent  characteristic  of  the  mature 
mountains  of  Persia  is  their  nakedness,  roughness,  and  sterility.  In  a  young 
country  it  is  to  be  expected  that  there  shall  be  large  areas  of  naked  rock,  but  in  a 
mature  country-,  if  the  rainfall  is  abundant,  most  of  the  surface,  except  the  imme- 


248  THE   BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND    SISTAN. 

diate  valley-sides,  is  graded,  and  thus  covered  more  or  less  deeply  with  soil.  Eastern 
Persia,  however,  is  so  arid  that  the  ordinary  state  of  affairs  is  reversed.  All  the 
mountains,  whether  young  or  mature,  are  characterized  by  nakedness.  In  the 
mountains  between  Neh  and  Sistan,  for  instance,  which  are  now  passing  from  youth 
to  maturity,  the  aridity  is  so  great  that  the  growth  of  plants  is  prevented,  and  free 
play  is  allowed  to  the  activity  of  the  wind.  The  result  is  that  the  hills  are  almost 
ab.solutcly  free  from  soil  and  present  a  remarkal)lc  degree  of  roughness.  On  one 
small  mountain  near  Aliabad,  for  instance,  the  highly  lilted  shale  of  which  it  is 
composed  stands  entirely  naked,  and  e\en  the  cracks  between  the  fragments  are 
free  from  bits  of  soil.  In  stnicture,  although  not  in  color  or  texture,  the  mountain 
suggests  a  great  mass  of  small  quartz  crystals  tied  loosely  into  enonnous  bundles, 
with  the  {xjints  up.  Another  good  example  of  the  influence  of  aridity  is  found  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Birjand.  Here  the  moimtains  are  composed  of  dark  volcanic 
rocks,  and  their  main  outlines  are  not  shar]i  and  .steep  in  outline  like  tho.se  among 
the  regions  of  stratified  rock  to  the  south,  wliicli  have  just  been  described.  They 
lie  rather  in  long  ridges  with  rolling  crests,  rising  to  a  nearly  e\en  height,  but  yet 
with  considerable  variation.  The  sides  rise  with  a  steep  but  by  no  means  abrupt 
slope,  and  the  drainage  is  completely  established  and  seems  to  have  become  subse- 
quent. In  a  well-watered  country  such  mountains  would  be  wholly  covered  with 
soil  and  vegetation,  and  their  rounded  outlines  and  graded  slopes  would  leave  no 
doubt  that  they  were  in  the  stage  of  maturity.  In  the  arid  region  of  Birjand, 
on  the  other  hand,  but  few  of  the  slopes  are  graded,  vegetation  is  \ery  rare,  naked 
rock  is  as  prominent  as  soil,  and  many  of  the  small  valleys  have  precipitous  sides. 
Everjwhere  the  same  phenomena  appear.  Most  of  the  mountains  are  rocky  and 
jagged,  with  numerous  small,  sharp  peaks  and  little  points ;  and  ven'  often  a  small 
hill,  which  forms  but  a  tiny  island  in  a  plain  of  gravel,  still  retains  the  mggedness  and 
sharpness  of  outline  of  an  Alpine  peak.  Graded  slopes  are  not  a  feature  of  maturity 
in  an  arid  climate,  for  the  mountains  may  be  nuich  reduced  in  height,  the  drainage 
may  become  completely  adjusted  to  the  strata,  and  all  the  other  characteristics  of 
maturity  may  be  de\-eloped  before  the  graded  condition  makes  its  appearance. 

Mature  basins. — In  the  maturity  of  an  arid  mountain  region  the  basins  are  the 
most  important  and  characteristic  feature.  In  the  Persian  basins  the  rock  floors  are 
hidden  far  from  sight ;  the  deposits  of  Tertiary-  age  which  were  first  laid  down 
in  them  are  also  invisible  for  the  most  part.  Only  the  deposits  which  are  now  in 
process  of  fonnation  contribute  largely  to  the  geographic  appearance  of  the  country- 
as  it  exists  to-day.  In  Eastern  Persia  these  modem  deposits  are  in  part  aqueous  and 
in  part  seolian.  The  latter  vary  little  in  texture,  and  consist  largely  of  fine  sand,  cover- 
ing the  drier  plains  and  sometimes  mantling  the  leeward  side  of  the  hills.  Their 
most  remarkable  development  is  at  Sistan  (Plate  4  and  fig.  169),  where  the  violent 
winds  move  the  sand  with  phenomenal  celerity  and  heap  it  into  dunes  of  great  height, 
which  are  to-day  fast  encroaching  on  areas  of  gravel  and  silt.  The  aqueous  deposits, 
on  the  other  hand,  var\'  from  the  finest  clays  of  lacu.strine  deposits,  through  the  silts 
and  sands  of  plazas,  to  coarse  gravel  and  bowlders  in  the  huge  piedmont  fans  and  in 
the  mountain  valleys.     The  basin  deposits  seem  to  occur  ahnost  invariably  in  one 


PERSIA   AS   AN    EXAMPLE   OF   AN    ARID    COUNTRY.  249 

order  of  superposition,  namely,  silts  or  other  fine  materials  at  the  bottom,  then  gravel, 
and  lastly  wind-blown  sand  on  top.  It  is  probable  that  this  order  of  superposition 
represents  the  ordinary-  sequence  of  events  in  a  countrj-  where  basin-making  and 
desiccation  are  both  in  progress. 

The  aqueous  series  of  basin  deposits. — The  general  appearance  of  the  basin 
deposits  is  well  described  by  Blanford  («,  pp.  495-496) : 

In  the  smaller  plains,  and  in  the  larger  deserts  at  a  short  distance  from  their  margins,  the  sur- 
face usually  consists  of  very  fine,  pale-colored  rather  sandy  cart^h,  which,  although  barren  in  gen- 
eral, is  fertile  wherever  irrigation  is  practised,  unless,  as  is  not  unfrequently  the  case,  it  is  strongly 
impregnated  with  salts.  .  .  .  The  margins  of  the  desert  plains  .  .  .  usually  consist  of  a  long 
slope  covered  with  gravel  and  bowlders,  and  with  a  surface  inclination  of  from  one  to  three  degrees. 
Such  slopes  often  extend  for  a  distance  of  from  5  to  10  miles  from  the  base  of  the  hills  bounding 
the  plains,  the  difference  in  level  between  the  top  and  the  bottom  of  the  incline  being  frequently  from 
1,000  to  2,000  feet  or  even  more.  What  proportion  of  this  depth  consists  of  detritus  it  is  impossible 
to  say,  but  depth  of  the  deposit  must  be  great,  because  hills  of  solid  rock  but  rarely  emerge  from  it. 
The  greater  part  of  such  slopes  consists  of  sand  and  pebbles,  the  latter  more  or  less  angular  and 
mixed  with  large  blocks,  all  derived  from  the  adjacent  hills.  .  .  .  Fragments  2  or  3  feet  in 
diameter  are  not  uncommon,  even  at  a  distance  of  a  mile  or  two  from  the  base  of  the  hills;  but  I 
only  observed  them  near  places  where  small  streams  issue  from  the  higher  ranges.  At  such  spots 
the  gravel  deposits  are  naturally  very  often  raised  into  a  fan-shaped  slope.  Such  a  phenomenon  is 
common  enough  in  all  countries,  and  so  are  strong  slopes  at  the  base  of  steep  hills;  but  the  peculiar- 
ity of  these  slopes  in  Persia  consists  in  their  great  breadth,  and  in  the  enormous  mass  of  detrital 
deposits  which  they  contain. 

From  many  of  the  desert  plains  of  Persia  valleys  of  great  width  extend  far  into  the  more  hilly 
regions.  These  valleys  have,  along  their  sides,  precisely  such  long  slopes  of  gravel  as  I  have  jost 
described.  The  presence  of  a  s.tream  in  the  midst  of  the  valley  is  by  no  means  constant ;  but  occa- 
sionally small  rivulets  coming  from  the  sides  run  for  miles  along  the  slopes  without  descending  to 
the  bottom  of  the  valley,  and  are  finally  absorbed  by  the  soil,  if  not  exhausted  by  being  diverted  for 
irrigation. 

Even  at  great  ele\-ations  (p.  497)  up  to  9,000  feet,  similar  immense  accumula- 
tions of  loose  material  occur  in  many  places,  and  the  higher  peaks  and  ranges  rise 
out  of  them.  Among  certain  of  the  higher  mountains,  for  example,  near  Shiraz 
(p.  498),  where  the  rainfall  is  greater  than  usual  and  the  streams  flow  perennially, 
the  \-alleys  present  quite  a  different  appearance,  being  flat-floored  and  havino-  no 
gravel  slopes  along  the  sides.  The  reason  for  this  peculiarit}-,  as  Blanford  infers, 
is  that  the  perennial  streams  are  able  to  carr>'  away  the  waste  that  is  brought  into 
the  valley,  whereas,  if  the  streams  come  to  an  end  at  the  base  of  the  hills,  it  is 
inevitable  that  the  detritus  which  they  carr\-  should  be  deposited  at  once  and  fans 
should  be  built  up  indefinitely. 

Blanford  describes  many  fine  examples  of  superficial  deposits,  especially  of 
gravel  slopes,  and  there  are  numerous  others  which  might  be  mentioned.  A  small 
but  typical  example  is  the  basin  of  Tabas,  60  miles  east  of  Birjand,  among  the 
mountains,  at  an  elevation  of  about  4,000  feet.  The  center  of  the  plain,  which  is 
about  15  miles  in  diameter,  is  composed  of  the  finest  silt,  and  as  water  is  relatively 
abundant,  most  of  it  is  cultivated.  Outside  the  cultivated  area  is  a  broad  rim  of 
fine  gravel,  difficult  of  cultivation,  but  very  useful  to  the  traveler,  as  we  found 
during  the  melting  of  one  of  the  occasional  winter  snows.  The  center  of  the  plain 
was  so  mudd>-  and  slipper)-  that  it  was  utterly  impassable  for  camels,  which  are 
the  most  helpless  of  beasts  of  burden  when  removed  from  their  proper  en\-iron- 


250  THE   BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND    SISTAN. 

ment.  On  the  fine  gravel,  however,  they  had  no  difficult)'.  The  junction  between 
the  gravel  and  the  silt  is  ven'  indefinite,  and  the  two  formations  appear  to  merge 
into  one  another  in  many  places.  Elsewhere,  however,  the  gravel  lies  over  the 
silt,  and  we  noted  here  and  at  Sistan  that  certain  streams  were  engaged  in  the 
process  of  bringing  small  gravel  and  spreading  it  out  in  a  smooth  and  ven,'  thin 
sheet  upon  the  silt.  Outside  the  band  of  finer  gravel,  the  borders  of  the  plain  of 
Tabas  are  formed  of  coarser  gravel,  which  increases  in  size  and  in  the  angle  of  slope 
of  the  surface  as  the  mountains  are  approached.  On  the  ver)-  edge  the  gravel 
becomes  a  mere  mass  of  rough,  angular  fragments  of  all  sizes  up  to  a  foot  or  more 
in  diameter,  and  it  is  hard  to  say  where  the  coalescing  fans  of  the  ba.sin  deposit 
come  to  an  end  and  the  creep  from  the  mountain  slopes  begins. 

The  basin  of  Selabad,  60  miles  southeast  of  Birjand,  is  of  much  tlie  same 
character.  The  center  of  this  basin  is  not  occupied  by  fields,  but  b)-  a  salt  playa 
6  or  8  miles  in  diameter.  On  the  edges  of  this  are  broad  deposits  of  silt,  some  of 
which  are  cultivated.     Outside  of  these  are  the  usual  gravel  slopes. 

The  surfaces  of  these  tiresome,  gently  sloping  expanses  of  gravel  do  not  lie  in 
one  plane,  as  appears  at  first  sight.  Although  they  owe  their  origin  to  a  sheet  of 
w-a.ste  which  descends  evenly  from  all  parts  of  the  mountains,  this  waste  must  first 
be  gathered  into  valleys.  Thus  the  immediate  origin  of  the  gravels  which  skirt 
the  mountains  is  the  innumerable  fans  which  head  in  e\en-  valley,  large  or  small, 
and  expand  outward  until  they  coalesce  with  their  neighbors  on  either  side  and 
merge  into  the  plain  of  silt  at  the  lower  end.  Each  fan,  no  matter  how  flat  it  may 
seem,  is  really  part  of  a  cone ;  hence  the  union  of  many  fans  must  fonn  a  series  of 
low  swells  and  faint  hollows.  In  only  one  way  can  this  rolling  quality  be  brought 
to  the  notice  of  the  eye,  at  least  in  the  larger  basins,  without  the  aid  of  instru- 
ments of  precision.  This  is  well  illustrated  in  the  northern  portion  of  the  Desert 
of  Despair.  In  looking  across  a  piedmont  slope  at  right  angles  to  the  mountains, 
it  often  happens  that  the  lower  half  of  some  far-away  mountain  is  hidden  from 
view  by  the  seemingly  level  plain  as  by  a  hill.  For  a  mile,  or  even  five,  the  moun- 
tain may  be  approached  without  apparent  change  in  its  appearance,  but  at  last, 
slowly  and  almost  imperceptibly,  the  whole  of  the  distant  blue  mass  is  exposed  to 
view,  and  one  realizes  that  he  has  reached  the  arch  of  a  huge  flat  cone  of  detritus. 
Beyond  the  arch  the  mountain  again  half  disappears,  and  then  reappears  on  the 
next  cone,  and  so  on  indefinitely.  The  traveler  feels  that  he  is  traversing  a  smooth 
plain,  although  his  reason  tells  him  that  he  is  crossing  a  series  of  broad  swells  made 
by  the  coalescing  of  great  fan-shaped  cones  of  detritus.  His  aneroid  may  show  that 
the  arch  of  a  fan  is  one  or  two  hundred  feet  higher  than  the  hollows  on  either  side. 

Almost  ever)-  writer  on  Persia  speaks  of  the  astonishing  aljundance  of  gravel. 
The  largest  gravel  plain  which  I  saw  was  on  the  northwestern  border  of  tlie  lake  of 
Sistan.  From  Beudun  to  Bering  a  smooth  plain  extends  toward  the  southeast 
with  a  uniform  slope  so  gentle  that  in  30  miles  it  amounts  to  but  little  more  than 
800  feet.  From  mountains  to  lake  the  plain  is  composed  of  pebbles  of  dark  lime- 
stone and  slate,  coarse  and  angular  near  the  mountains,  well-rounded  and  small 
near  the  lake.     It  is  hard  to  understand  how  gravel,  even  though  fine-grained,  can 


PERSIA   AS   AN    EXAMPLE   OF   AN    ARID    COUNTRY.  25I 

be  transported  and  spread  in  a  sheet  on  so  gentle  a  slope.  East  of  Sistan  the  won- 
der becomes  greater.  According  to  Colonel  McIVIahon,  the  drear}-  expanse  of  the 
Dasht-i-Margo  extends  eastward  150  miles  without  change  and  without  interniption 
from  the  top  of  the  bluffs  of  Sistan  to  the  first  mountain,  Malik-Dokhand  in  Balu- 
chistan. In  tliis  distance  the  plain  rises  2,500 feet — less  than  17  feet  permile — and 
yet  gravel  has  been  smoothly  distributed  ever\-\vhere.  It  is  noteworth}-  that  in  the 
driest  regions  the  accumulation  of  gravel  is  most  extensive,  provided  the  relief  of 
the  neighboring  mountains  is  great. 

Proceeding  now  from  the  coarser  to  the  finer  deposits,  we  find  that  the  center 
of  each  basin  usually  holds  a  salt  lake  or  playa,  bordered  by  an  area  of  fine  silts. 
Plajas  and  salt  lakes  are  so  abundant  and  various  that  the  Persians  have  different 
names  for  different  sorts.  The  names  are  used  loosely  and  often  overlap,  but  there 
seems  to  be  some  system.  Thus  "  darya  "  signifies  simply  a  lake  or  any  large  body 
of  water ;  "  hamun,"  which  is  often  translated  "  swamp,"  is  used  for  a  body  of  water 
which  is  partly  open  and  partly  filled  with  reeds ;  next  comes  "  nemeksar,"  a  salt 
lake  which  is  dry  part  of  the  year,  but  contains  water  during  the  rainy  season,  and, 
on  dr\ing  up,  deposits  salt  which  can  be  used  commercially.  Still  drier  than  the 
nemeksar  is  the  "  kavir,"  a  salt  playa  or  swamp  which  may  sometimes  be  covered 
with  water  for  a  brief  period,  but  never  fonns  a  real  lake  in  which  salt  of  economic 
value  is  deposited.  Its  deposits  are  always  mixed  somewhat  with  sand  and  silt. 
The  Persian  naturally  looks  upon  the  utilitarian  side  of  physiography,  but  his  classi- 
fication is  exact  enough  to  be  of  scientific  \-alue.  In  all  these  fonns  of  lake,  swamp, 
or  playa  the  deposits  which  are  not  composed  of  salt  present  much  the  same 
appearance,  being  usually  fine-grained  saline  clays  or  silts. 

OLD   AGB. 

In  the  absence  of  obser\'ational  knowledge  of  any  countn,-  which  has  grown  old 
under  arid  conditions,  we  are  obliged  to  fall  back  upon  deduction  in  order  to  dis- 
cover the  ultimate  fate  of  Persia  if  the  present  conditions  of  climate  and  elevation 
remain  unchanged.  In  youth  and  maturity  the  elevation  of  the  floors  of  the  basins 
above  sea-level  is  of  small  importance.  In  old  age  it  plays  an  important  part.  If 
the  floor  of  a  basin  is  below  the  level  that  would  be  occupied  by  a  peneplain  at  the 
same  distance  from  the  sea,  it  will  never  be  affected  by  aqueous  erosion  and, 
unless  otherwise  influenced,  will  preserve  the  fonns  due  to  deposition  as  long  as  the 
continent  continues  to  exist.  If  the  center  of  the  basin  is  considerably  above  sea- 
level,  on  the  other  hand,  the  basin  fonn  and  the  features  due  to  deposition  will 
eventually  disappear.  In  ever\-  region  where  there  is  any  aqueous  erosion  the 
divides  between  different  drainage  areas  must  shift  continually  until  the  slope  on 
the  two  sides  is  equal.  In  a  basin  region  such  a  state  of  equilibrium  can  never  be 
attained  so  long  as  the  streams  on  one  side  flow  to  the  ocean  and  those  on  the  other 
to  a  basin ;  for  the  local  base-level  of  the  basin  rises  indefinitely  by  reason  of  depo- 
sition, and  the  slope  of  the  streams  flowing  inward  is  continually  diminished.  The 
ocean  base-level,  on  the  contrary-,  remains  fixed,  and  the  slope  of  the  streams  reach- 
ing it  is  diminished  only  by  the  lowering  of  the  divide  which  affects  the  streams 
on  both  sides  to  an  equal  extent.  Accordingly  the  ocean  streams  will  always  have 
a  slightly  perhaps  imperceptibly,  steeper  slope  than  their  opponents,  and  the  di\-ide 


252  THE   BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA    AND   SISTAN. 

must  shift  inward  until  the  center  of  the  basin  is  reached  and  the  basin  is  destroyed. 
Tliis  must  happen  in  ever)-  country,  pro\ided  the  streams  are  strong  enough  to  reach 
the  sea.  The  divide,  in  its  migration,  will  come  into  regions  deeply  buried  in  gravel 
and  silt,  but  the  streams  nuist  cut  through  this  in  time  and  reach  bed  rock.  When 
this  happens  the  topography  will  lose  the  characteristic  forms  due  to  deposition  and 
assume  fonns  detennined  by  erosion  along  lines  indicated  by  rock  structure  and  rock 
texture.  The  whole  country  will  doubtless  be  deeply  shrouded  in  gravel,  the  residue 
of  decomposition  left  after  the  wind  has  swept  away  the  finer  material,  l)ut  the  main 
topographic  forms  will  be  determined  by  the  character  of  the  rocks,  and  will  so  con- 
tinue until  all  relief  disappears.  Therefore,  if  the  center  of  a  basin  region  is  suffi- 
cientlv  elevated  above  the  sea,  and  if  the  rainfall  is  great  enough  so  that  some  streams 
reach  the  sea,  the  basin  character  will  eventually  be  destroyed,  the  major  forms  due 
to  deposition  will  disappear,  and  in  old  age  the  arid  countrj-  will  present  a  topography 
similar  to  that  of  a  moist  countr}-.  The  chief  difference  will  be  that  the  moist  region 
will  be  reduced  to  a  peneplain  deeply  shrouded  in  fine  soil  and  densely  covered  with 
vegetation,  while  the  arid  countrj-  will  be  reduced  to  a  peneplain  deeply  shrouded 
in  wind-swept  gravel  and  almost  void  of  vegetation. 

Under  still  drier  conditions  another  state  of  affairs  is  possible  in  old  age.  Sup- 
pose that  the  countr)-  is  so  arid  that  no  stream  is  able  to  reach  the  sea.  The  divides 
will  migrate  until  the  streams  on  the  two  sides  have  the  same  grade,  and  then 
will  sink  steadily,  though  exceedingly  slowly,  in  one  position.  While  this  is  in 
progress,  the  rainfall  will  still  further  diminish  becau.se  of  the  lowering  of  the 
mountains,  the  streams  will  grow  even  shorter,  and  the  heads  of  the  gravel  fans  will 
rise  nearl)-  or  quite  to  the  divides.  At  last  there  will  come  a  time  when  the  land 
forms  produced  by  deposition  will  dominate  the  topography  of  practically  the  whole 
country.  Ckavel  fans,  e.xtinct  playas,  and  deserts  will  everywhere  prevail,  and  the 
little  rain  which  falls  will  so  soon  be  evaporated  or  sink  into  the  ever-deepening 
gravel  that  running  streams  will  be  practically  unknown.  Whatever  transportation 
of  solid  matter  toward  the  sea  takes  place  by  means  of  water  will  be  almost  infinites- 
imally  small,  and  the  whole  result  will  be  an  immeasurably  .slow  melting  away  of 
the  country  which  will  not  materially  affect  the  surface.  If  this  were  the  end  we 
might  conclude  that  in  an  extremely  arid  countiy  all  the  topographic  forms  of  old 
age  are  due  to  deposition,  with  the  single  exception  of  the  divides,  which  to  a 
certain  extent  survive  as  the  last  remnant  of  forms  due  to  erosion. 

There  is  still  one  factor,  however,  which  we  have  disregarded.  As  the  power 
of  aqueous  erosion  decreases  that  of  rcolian  erosion  increases.  In  a  countr)-  which 
had  reached  the  stage  of  old  age  which  has  just  been  described,  the  wind  would  pla)- 
an  exceedingly  important  part.  It  would  comminute  and  strip  off  the  gravels 
on  the  surface,  and  then  would  begin  to  erode  the  underlying  rock.  The  forms 
produced  would  be  ver)-  different  from  those  of  aqueous  erosion  in  detail,  but  they 
would  follow  the  same  guidance  of  rock-structure  and  rock-texture.  Thus  in 
extreme  old  age  the  driest  country  must  be  reduced  to  a  peneplain,  parts  of  which 
may  lie  below  sea-le\-el  where  the  strata  are  ver)-  soft,  and  all  of  which  will  follow 
the  lines  of  the  rock  structure.  The  surface  of  the  peneplain  will  be  strewn  with 
fragments  of  waste  which  will  increase  in  size  in  proportion  to  the  aridity. 


THE    INFLUENCE   OF    CHANGES   OF   CLIMATE.  253 

SUMMARY. 

Ill  earl}-  \oiitli  the  main  forms  of  Persia  probably  differed  but  little  from  those 
of  a  moist  coiiiitn.-.  There  was  more  nakedness,  roughness,  and  sharpness,  but  this 
was  confined  to  the  minor  details.  From  }-outh  onward,  however,  through  maturity 
the  land  forms  of  Persia  increasingly  diverge  from  the  fonns  of  moister  regions. 
Those  of  the  latter  are  shaped  by  erosion  ;  those  of  Persia  largely  by  deposition. 
In  the  one  case  basins  are  destroyed ;  in  the  other  the}-  are  preserved.  The  di\-er- 
geuce  between  the  two  types  is  at  a  maximum  during  mid-maturity,  when,  in  a 
moist  country  such  as  the  southern  Appalachian  region  of  the  United  States,  inclosed 
basins  have  wholly  disappeared,  a  subsequent  drainage  follows  implicitly  the  lines 
of  rock  structure,  and  the  slopes  of  the  mountains  are  completely  graded  ;  while  in 
an  arid  countr}-,  such  as  Eastern  Persia,  inclosed  basins  are  the  rule.  The  drainage  is 
largely  interfered  with  by  immense  areas  of  deposition  which  have  no  connection 
with  the  underlying  rocks,  and  the  slopes  of  even  the  lower  mountains  are  rough 
and  naked.  From  mid-maturity  onward  the  main  topographic  forms  of  moist  and 
of  arid  lands  again  approach  one  another  somewhat,  until  in  old  age  both  are  reduced 
to  peneplains.  If  the  wind  is  active,  however,  the  arid  peneplain  will  continue  to 
develop  and  ma\-  be  eroded  below  sea-level. 

PERSIA  AS  AN  EXAMPLE  OF  THE  INFLUEN-CE  OF  CHANGES  OF  CLIMATE. 

Although  as  a  whole  the  basin  deposits  of  Eastern  Persia  indicate  the  long 
prevalence  of  an  arid  climate,  there  are  certain  phenomena  which  suggest  a  depart- 
ure from  the  present  condition  during  relatively  recent  times.  These  consist,  in 
the  first  place,  of  fine  deposits  of  silt  and  clay  which  seem  to  be  of  lacustrine  or 
playa  origin,  although  they  lie  in  regions  which  are  never  inundated  under  the 
present  climatic  conditions.  Associated  with  these  are  shore  terraces  of  the  kind 
which  are  usually  characteristic  of  lakes.  These  are  best  explained  bv  supposing 
either  that  the  rainfall  of  former  times  was  greater  than  to-day,  or  that  the  climate 
was  colder,  evaporation  was  less,  and  a  greater  accumulation  of  water  was  possible 
in  the  basins. 

Another  class  of  facts  seems  to  have  some  connection  with  the  lakes,  but  is  by 
no  means  so  well  understood.  Numerous  valle\s  in  all  parts  of  Eastern  Persia 
contain  a  series  of  terraces  ranging  up  to  five  in  number,  and  closely  similar  to  the 
terraces  of  Turkestan.  Sometimes  the  terraces  are  cut  partly  in  rock  and  partlv  in 
stream-laid  gravel,  sometimes  wholh-  in  stream-laid  gravel,  and  sometimes  in  stream- 
laid  gravel  which  lies  with  a  slight  unconfonnity  upon  finer  deposits  of  silt.  Such 
unconformities  are  common  on  the  edges  of  the  ancient  lakes,  and  in  almost  ever}- 
case  coarse  material  lies  above  and  finer  material  below,  while  the  transition  in  the 
reverse  order  from  coarse  below  to  fine  above  seems  to  be  gradual,  without  au}- 
sudden  change.  As  the  terraces  and  the  associated  phenomena  represent  the  most 
recent  physiographic  changes  which  have  taken  place  in  Persia,  it  is  not  impossible 
that  some  of  them  originated  since  the  advent  of  man,  and  they  must  be  carefully 
explained. 


254  THE    nASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA    AND    SISTAN. 

THEORIES   OF   TERRACE   FORMATION. 

Tliere  are  three  generally  accepted  theories  of  terrace  fonnation.  ( i )  The  best- 
known  theory  explains  terraces  as  the  resnlt  of  tectonic  movements  of  the  earth's 
crnst.  The  nplift  of  a  given  region  accelerates  the  streams  and  causes  them  to 
deepen  their  channels.  A  period  of  rest  allows  the  streams  to  cnt  down  to  grade 
and  to  broaden  their  flood-plains.  A  repetition  of  this  process  produces  terraces, 
provided  the  broadening  of  the  flood-plains  during  each  successive  period  of  rest  is 
less  tlian  during  the  preceding  period.  For  brevity  I  shall  refer  to  this  as  the  tectonic 
theory-  of  terrace  formation.  (2)  A  second  theony-  explains  a  large  number  of  ter- 
races as  due  to  the  growth  of  stream-laid  deposits  in  the  valleys  downstream  from  the 
foot  of  glaciers  during  successive  glacial  epochs  and  the  dissection  of  the  deposits 
by  the  streams  during  iuterglacial  epochs.  (3)  Other  terraces  have  been  explained 
by  Davis  (d)  as  the  result  of  the  normal  swinging  of  rivers  in  alluvial  deposits 
during  a  single  phase  of  downcutting.  Under  this  supposition  a  river  cuts  laterally 
until  it  reaches  the  rock  wall  of  the  valley,  where  it  is  stopped  by  the  rock.  At  its 
next  swing  in  the  same  direction  the  stream  is  at  a  lower  level,  and,  because  of  the 
narrowing  of  the  valley  downward  in  vertical  section,  reaches  the  valley  wall  before 
swinging  so  far  as  before.  Thus  it  is  not  able  to  cut  so  far  lateral!)-,  and  a  terrace  is 
fonned.  (4)  In  addition  to  these  three  theories  there  is  a  fourth,  which  has  been  but 
little  discussed.  It  has  been  outlined  in  the  preceding  report  on  Txirkestan,  where 
the  conclusion  is  reached  that  the  terraces  of  that  country  are  due  to  the  alternations 
of  climate  which  occurred  during  the  glacial  period  in  regions  where  no  glaciation 
took  place.     I  shall  refer  to  this  as  the  climatic  theorj'  of  terrace  fonnation. 

Of  the  four  theories  mentioned,  the  second  and  third  can  not  possibly  appl\-  to 
Eastern  Persia,  for  no  trace  of  glaciation  has  been  detected  there,  and  the  terraces 
frequently  continue  for  many  miles  without  approaching  the  rock  walls  of  their 
valleys.  The  explanation  of  the  Persian  terraces  seems  to  lie  either  in  the  first  or 
the  fourth  theory — the  tectonic  or  the  climatic.  In  the  following  pages  the  terraces 
of  Eastern  Persia  and  the  neighboring  portion  of  Transcaspia  are  described  and  an 
attempt  is  made  to  ascertain  which  tlieor}-  best  fits  the  facts.  To  avoid  confusion  I 
shall  use  the  terms  "fluvial"  and  "interfluvial,"'  or  "lacustral"  and  "  interlacustral," 
when  speaking  of  the  climatic  equivalent  of  the  glacial  period  in  non-glacial  regions. 
These  terms  must  not  be  understood  as  bearing  any  implication  as  to  the  cause  of 
the  glacial  period.  Either  an  increase  in  cold  or  an  increase  in  precipitation  would 
cause  the  lengthening  of  the  rivers  and  the  expansion  of  the  lakes.  Hence  the 
climatic  equivalent  of  a  glacial  epoch  is  appropriately  termed  a  fluvial  epoch  when 
we  are  considering  river  action,  and  a  lacustral  epoch  when  we  are  considering 
lake  action. 

EXAMPLES   OF   TERRACES. 
THB   NORTHERN   SLOPE  OF   KOPET   DAGH. 

In  his  report  on  Transcaspia  Professor  Davis  has  described  the  terraces  of  Kizil 
Arvat,  at  the  western  end  of  the  Kopet  range,  140  miles  northwest  of  Askhabad, 
and  also  those  of  the  portion  of  Kopet  Dagh  immediately  to  the  west  and  south 


EXAMPLES   OF   TERRACES. 


255 


of  Askhabad.  In  both  these  regions  there  were  well-marked  series  of  terraces, 
indicating  a  succession  of  decreasingly  severe  impulses  toward  valley  deepening. 
Whether  the  cause  of  these  terraces  was  to  be  found  in  cnistal  movements  or  in 
changes  of  climate  could  not  be  determined  becau.se  of  the  small  number  of  exam- 
ples, either  cause  seeming  to  be  competent  to  explain  all  the  phenomena.  Farther 
east  along  the  northeni  slope  of  Kopet  Dagh  the  same  state  of  affairs  continues 
indefinitely.  At  Anau,  6  miles  east  of  Askhabad,  a  small  stream  breaks  through 
a  gorge  in  the  front  range  of  Kopet  Dagh  and  debouches  upon  the  piedmont  plain, 
where  its  waters  are  diverted  for  irrigation.  In  its  upper  course  the  Anau  stream 
flows  northwestward  through  a  broad  valley  of  soft  strata,  which  were  depressed  to 
their  present  level  by  the  fault  which  uplifted  the  small  Anau  ridge  on  the  northeast 
side  of  the  valley.  This  Anau  ridge  appears  to  be  a  fault  block  of  the  same  sort  as 
that  of  Suru-Muzdar,  which  lies  on  the  southwestern  side  of  the  valley  and  has 
been  described  b}-  Professor  Davis.  In  both  of  these  parallel  blocks  the  south- 
west side  presents  a  precipitous  escarpment,  the  battered  successor  of  the  original 
fault  scarp,  while  the  northeastern  face  presents  a  smoothly-graded  slope  in  which 
are  incised  the  deep  trenches  of  small  consequent  streams.     In  the  Suni-Muzdar 


Oi  6=course  of  brook  ;  c,  default  ;  l^liniestone  ;  2=conglomerate  ;  3=-red  silt  ;  4=gravel  ;  5— soft 

Tertiary  fonnation. 

Fig.  136. — North  and  south  section  along  the  Anau  Brook,  across  the  Anau  fauh  block.     Dash  lines 

indicate  terraces. 

block,  so  far  as  could  be  judged  from  a  distance,  the  back  slope  appears  to  be 
wholly  stnictural,  following  the  bedding  of  the  hard  Cretaceous  limestone.  In 
the  Anau  block,  on  the  other  hand,  the  tipper  part  of  the  back  slope  is  determined 
by  the  structure  of  the  limestone,  while  the  lower  part  is  quite  independent  of 
structure  and  truncates  the  underhing  warped  Tertiary  strata  (fig.  156).  Where 
the  Anau  stream  turns  to  the  north  and  passes  out  of  the  trough  between  the  two 
fault  blocks  it  has  cut  a  deep  gorge  in  the  Anau  block.  The  sides  of  this  gorge 
are  steep,  but  even  at  the  narrowest  point  the  bottom  is  flat-floored  and  has  a  width 
of  several  hundred  feet,  so  that  although  the  gorge  is  young  there  nuist  ne\erthe- 
less  have  been  a  considerable  lapse  of  time  since  its  cutting  was  begun,  and  even 
since  it  was  cut  to  its  present  level  and  the  work  of  broadening  the  bottom  began. 
The  Anau  gorge  is  important  becau.se  of  the  terraces  which  it  contains.  As  is 
seen  in  the  cross-section  (fig.  156)  the  stream,  on  leaving  the  soft  strata  south  of  the 
Anau  fault  block,  first  traverses  a  hard  limestone  forming  the  narrowest  portion  of 
the  gorge,  and  then  a  coarse  conglomerate,  and  lastly  a  red  silt  already  described  as 
like  the  silts  of  Kashgar  and  Bajistan.  Overlying  the  conglomerate  and  silt,  both 
of  whicli  ha\'e  been  warped  and  dip  northward,  extends  a  recent  conglomerate  or, 


256  THE   BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND    SISTAN. 

better,  gravel,  forniiiit:^  an  unconsolidated  sheet  some  40  or  50  feet  thick,  which  lies 
unconfoTuiably  on  the  beveled  edges  of  the  other  strata  and  shows  almost  no  sign 
of  warping.  It  seems  probable,  howe\-er,  that  the  gra\el  sheet  has  been  uplifted 
and  tilted  somewhat,  and  that  it  rejiresents  the  old  piedmont  deposit  of  a  time  pre- 
vious to  the  faulting  and  ui)lift  of  the  Anau  and  Suru-Muzdar  blocks.  On  the  east 
this  conglomerate  or,  belter,  gravel,  forms  a  smooth  though  slojjing  plain,  in  which 
are  incised  young  valleys ;  on  the  west  it  has  been  dissected  into  low,  rolling  hills. 
Thus  far  there  can  be  but  little  question  as  to  the  true  nature  and  origin  of  the 
phenomena  of  the  gorge  ;  it  is  when  we  come  to  the  terraces  that  the  difficidty 
begins.  In  its  more  open  portions  to  the  north  of  the  hard  limestone  the  sides  of 
the  gorge  are  marked  by  well-defined  gravel  terraces  to  the  number  of  five,  which 
gradually  converge  downstream  until  the}',  as  well  as  the  upper  grade  plain,  merge 
into  the  general  slope  of  the  present  piedmont  plain  in  the  vicinity  of  Anau,  where 
the  stream  comes  to  an  end.  The  heights  of  the  terraces  above  the  stream,  as 
measured  at  a  point  well  within  the  gorge  a  little  below  the  so-called  "Old  Mills," 
are  approximately  as  follows  : 

Keet. 

First  terrace,  narrow  and  insignificant 3 

Second  terrace,  rather  broad  and  strong 6 

Third  terrace,  broad  plain  of  main  valley  floor 20 

Fourth  terrace,  narrow,  often  missing 50 

Fifth  terrace,  broad  and  flat 100 

Grade  plain,  uplifted  piedmont  deposit 300 

The  whole  number  of  terraces  is  not  always  present,  sometimes  one  and  some- 
times another  being  undercut ;  nor  does  it  appear  as  though  they  all  merged  into 
the  plain  at  the  same  point. 

If  all  the  terraces  were  cut  in  the  solid  rock,  and  came  to  an  end  in  the  Anau 
fault  block,  it  would  be  easy  to  explain  them  as  the  product  of  the  same  faulting 
which  produced  the  block  and  which  uplifted  the  old  piedmont  plain.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  however,  the  lower  terraces  at  least,  so  far  as  their  structure  could  be  made 
out,  seem  to  be  composed  entirely  of  stream-laid  gravel.  In  other  words,  the  gorge 
was  cut  to  nearly  its  present  form  and  then  was  subjected  to  a  series  of  changes  by 
which  it  was  first  filled  with  gravel  and  then  cut  out  again.  Moreover,  although 
the  terraces  disappear  in  the  narrowest  portion  of  the  gorge,  three  of  them  reappear 
in  the  more  open  jxjrtion  of  the  valley  farther  upstream — another  evidence  that  the 
younger  ones  are  of  later  date  than  the  gorge.  The  importance  of  the  relative  ages 
of  the  gorge  and  the  terraces  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  fault  which  caused  the  cutting 
of  the  gorge  represents  the  last  mo\-ement  of  uplift  of  which  we  have  any  unmis- 
takable record.  It  is  not  impo.ssible  that  the  terraces  are  due  to  earth  movements 
of  a  kind  which  first  caused  deposition  and  then  erosion,  this  alternation  being 
repeated  as  many  times  as  there  are  separate  gravel  deposits,  an  unknown  quantity 
which  may  number  from  one  to  five.  The  Anau  terraces,  like  those  described  by 
Professor  Davis,  are  uusatisfacton,-,  because,  so  far  as  can  be  seen,  thej-  may  be 
either  tectonic  or  climatic  in  origin. 

At  Anau,  and  elsewhere  along  the  base  of  the  moimtains  as  far  as  Dushak, 
where  the  railroad  turns  to  the  northeast,  the  hasty  view  of  the  country-  obtained 


EXAMPLES   OF   TERRACES.  257 

from  passing  trains  shows  that  ahnost  universally  the  "  ateck,"  or  "  skirt "  of  the 
mountains,  as  the  Turkomans  tenn  the  piedmont  slopes,  has  been  subjected  to  a 
slight  dissection.  The  numerous  coalescent  fans  are  intersected  by  small  dn,-  valleys, 
the  peculiar  feature  of  which  is  that  they  are  not  fresh,  but  are  everywhere  grassed 
over,  while  the  sides  are  reduced  to  a  very  gentle  angle  and  the  bottoms  appear  to 
be  half  filled  with  sediment.  They  are  certainly  not  channels  which  are  now  being 
eroded,  and  they  seem  to  extend  farther  than  the  farthest  floods  of  to-day.  It  is 
possible  that  they  belong  to  a  rather  recent  time  when  the  streams  flowed  farther 
out  into  the  desert  than  they  do  to-day.  The  largest  stream  of  the  district  is  at 
Lutfabad,  where  the  railroad  crosses  the  lower  waters  of  the  stream  whose  terraced 
upper  portions  have  been  described  by  Professor  Da\  is.  Here,  where  the  stream 
spreads  out  upon  its  fan  shortly  before  coming  to  an  end,  it  is  bordered  by  two 
distinct  terraces. 

From  Dusliak  southeastward  for  80  miles  to  Serakhs,  at  the  northeastern  corner 
of  Persia,  on  the  Heri  Rud,  or  Tejen  River,  I  traveled  b}-  caravan  and  was  able  to 
examine  the  countr\^  more  closely.  Few  new  features  were  seen,  however.  Near 
the  mountains  the  fans  are  naturally  more  arched  and  more  gravelly  than  farther  out 
toward  the  plain.  Curiously  enough,  the  old  stream  channels  do  not  take  the  form 
of  depressions,  but  appear  as  incipient  ridges  topped  with  a  belt  of  cobble  stones, 
some  of  which  are  6  or  8  inches  in  diameter.  Apparently  at  some  previous  time 
the  streams  deposited  cobbles  along  the  floors  of  their  channels.  Since  that  time 
the  fans  have  been  so  far  degraded  that  the  channels  have  disappeared  and  their 
floors  have  been  converted  into  ridges.  The  present  streams  are  incised  below  the 
plain  to  depths  of  from  10  to  15  feet,  or  even  more.  All  that  were  seen  were  small 
dry  channels,  with  the  exception  of  the  flowing  streams  at  Meana. 

THE   MURG-AB    RIVER. 

Omitting  for  the  present  the  Heri  Rud  (river),  which  comes  from  the  interior 
of  the  Iran  basin,  one  more  stream  must  be  described,  which  flows  from  the  northern 
side  of  the  mountains.  The  Murg-ab,  i.  e.,  Murg-water,  rises  in  the  Paropamisus 
Mountains  in  northwestern  Afghanistan,  and  flows  northward  into  the  desert  of 
Transcaspia,  where  it  finally  loses  itself  in  the  reed-beds  of  a  swamp  after  watering 
the  flat  oasis  of  Merv.  At  Merv  itself  and  throughout  the  oasis  the  main  stream 
flows  practically  on  the  surface  of  the  delta,  although  some  of  the  irrigation  canals 
are  incised  10  or  more  feet  Upstream,  however,  the  delta  is  bounded  by  cliffs  of 
silt,  which  gradually  converge  and  grow  higher  until  at  the  dam  of  Hindu  Kush, 
30  miles  above  Merv,  the  river  flows  in  a  well-defined  valley.  At  the  dam  the  sides 
of  the  river  show  two  terraces,  one  of  them  10  feet  above  the  level  of  the  water  in 
June  and  the  other  30  feet  above  that  level.  The  banks  of  both  terraces  appear 
very  young  and  freshly  cut,  as  indeed  they  ought,  since  the  lower  is  merely  the 
border  of  the  channel  and  the  upper  is  occasionally  undercut  by  the  river  when  an 
unusually  high  flood  causes  the  stream  to  overflow.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that 
the  channel  seems  to  be  growing  deeper  at  an  appreciable  rate.  The  dam  is  located 
just  below  the  divergence  of  an  old  river  channel  which  was  abandoned  something 
over  a  hundred  years  ago,  and  into  which  the  new  dam,  completed  about  1895,  now 


258  THE    BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA    AND   SISTAN. 

diverts  a  part  of  the  river.  According  to  Mr.  Nikrashevich,  superintendent  of  the 
dam,  the  inner  terrace  at  the  bottom  of  the  old  channel  had  a  height  of  2  feet  before 
conditions  were  changed  by  the  building  of  the  dam,  while  the  inner  channel,  where 
the  stream  to-day  runs,  has  a  depth  of  about  16  feet.  That  is,  the  bottom  of  the 
river  to-day  is  14  feet  lower  than  it  was  at  the  time  of  the  abandonment  of  the  old 
channel  a  hundred  years  ago.  Part  of  this  difference,  however,  may  be  accounted 
for  by  filling  of  the  latter  subsequent  to  its  abandonment. 

Since  the  building  of  the  dam  the  river  has  so  filled  up  its  channel  above  the 
artificial  obstruction  that  the  lower  terrace  has  entirely  disappeared  and  the  stream 
has  no  proper  channel,  but  wanders  this  way  and  that  over  its  own  depo.sits.  This 
wandering  is  causing  the  widening  of  the  flood-plain,  and  there  is  great  danger  that 
in  time  a  sudden  change  in  the  course  of  the  main  stream  will  cause  it  to  cut  into 
the  banks  close  to  the  dam  and  finally  to  break  a  way  around  the  end  of  the  latter. 
Such  a  catastrophe  took  place  at  Sultan  Bend,  a  few  miles  up  the  river,  where  a  dam 
was  built  about  1890  and  was  abandoned  a  few  years  later.  Retaining  walls  were 
built  in  all  directions,  but  nothing  could  prevent  the  river  from  cutting  laterally 
when  it  was  prevented  from  accomplishing  its  normal  work  of  vertical  erosion. 

The  material  which  is  now  being  deposited  by  the  Murg-ab  seems  to  be  the 
same  as  that  which  is  exposed  in  the  bluffs  of  the  terraces.  It  consists  of  a  very- 
fine  clayey  sand  well  stratified  and  with  a  consistency  like  loess.  It  stands  for  years 
in  nearly  perpendicular  bluffs,  and  preserves  the  marks  of  the  pick  indefinitely.  It 
is  said  that  as  far  as  Tash  Kupri,  nearly  a  hundred  miles  upstream,  the  same  fine 
sandy  deposit  continues,  and  only  at  that  place  does  it  become  gravelly. 

The  terraces  also  continue  far  upstream.  At  Tash  Kupri  there  are  said  to  be 
two,  one  of  them  close  to  the  river  and  the  other  70  feet  above  it.  At  Sultan  Bend, 
15  miles  above  the  dam  at  Hindu  Kush,  there  are  three  terraces.  At  the  top  lies 
the  great  sand-covered  alluvial  plain,  70  feet  above  the  river ;  then  comes  a  broad 
terrace  co\'ered  with  tamarisk  and  other  bushes,  and  hing  about  half  as  high  ;  and 
lastly  there  is  a  small  young  terrace  only  10  feet  above  the  water.  Here,  again,  as 
in  so  many  other  cases,  there  is  no  positive  indication  as  to  whether  the  terracing 
is  due  to  climatic  or  tectonic  causes.  There  are  archeological  indications  that  the 
flow  of  the  Murg-ab  one  or  two  thousand  years  ago  was  more  abundant  than  at 
present,  and  it  is  not  impossible  that  the  decrease  in  the  size  of  the  stream  is  con- 
nected with  the  building  of  the  lower  terraces. 

THE  HERI  ROD. 

The  Heri  Rud,  or  Tejen  River,  as  it  is  called  after  it  enters  Russian  territory, 
when  taken  by  itself  is  no  more  conclusive  as  to  the  cause  of  the  terraces  than  are 
the  other  rivers.  To  be  sure,  it  flows  directly  across  the  northern  mountain  rim 
of  the  basin  of  Iran,  and  thereby  differs  from  the  other  streams  which  we  have 
considered.  If  the  terraces  are  due  to  an  extensive  uplift  of  Kopet  Dagh  and  the 
Paropamisus,  the  main  axis  of  that  uplift  must  have  passed  directly  athwart  the 
Heri  Rud  not  far  from  what  is  now  the  Afghan  border,  accelerating  the  lower  or 
northern  portion  of  the  stream  and  retarding  the  upper  portion.  The  process  of 
terrace-making  under  such  circumstances  would  differ  materially  from  that  in  cases 


EXAMPLES   OF   TERRACES.  259 

where  the  whole  stream  was  tilted  in  one  direction,  but  the  resulting  forms  would 
be  similar  in  appearance.  They  could  be  distinguished  from  climatic  terraces  only 
by  means  of  a  careful  study  of  their  height  at  many  places  and  of  the  irrelatiou  to 
uplifted  areas  and  to  the  mountains  along  the  course  of  the  stream.  There  is, 
however,  one  respect  in  which  the  Heri  Rud  affords  a  valuable  clue  to  the  origin  of 
the  terraces.  Closely  associated  with  the  river,  and  in  one  case  forming  part  of  its 
system,  are  some  small  lakes  showing  phenomena  which  it  seems  impossible  to 
explain  on  any  hypothesis  except  that  of  climatic  change.  If  a  study  of  these 
shall  show  the  terraces  of  the  Heri  Rud  to  be  of  climatic  origin,  there  is  a  strong 
presumption  that  the  terraces  of  the  neighboring  streams  are  due  to  the  same  cause. 

In  its  lower  course  the  Heri  Rud  closely  resembles  the  Murg-ab.  At  Tejen 
it  flows  upon  the  surface  of  the  plain  and  is  also  liable  to  the  extraordinary-  floods 
described  in  Profes.sor  Davis's  report.  At  Serakhs  the  cross-section  is  much  like  that 
of  the  Murg-ab  at  Hindu  Kush,  with  the  river  flowing  in  a  deep  channel  about  10 
feet  below  what  may  be  termed  either  a  lower  terrace  or  an  elevated  flood-plain,  and 
with  a  second  terrace  20  feet  high  rising  to  a  broad  alluvial  plain.  Fifty  miles 
fiirther  upstream,  at  Pul-i-Khatun,  below  the  lower  gorge,  there  are  four  terraces. 
The  lower  one  is  small,  as  usual ;  the  second  forms  a  broad  plain  half  a  mile  wide, 
on  which  is  located  a  Russian  military-  post  to  guard  the  only  bridge  in  this  part  of 
the  countr)-;  the  third  is  narrow,  though  distinct;  and  the  fourth  is  the  rather  flat 
tops  of  the  surrounding  hills  of  old  alluvium.  But  little  was  seen  of  the  35  miles 
of  the  river  between  Pul-i-Khatun  and  Zulfagar  (Zulfikar)  at  the  northwestern 
comer  of  Afghanistan.  Most  of  the  way  the  ri\-er  flows  in  a  narrow  gorge,  and 
whatever  terraces  may  have  existed  are  naturally  destroyed  for  the  most  part.  Just 
south  of  Pul-i-Khatun,  in  a  relativeh'  open  stretch,  two  were  noted,  composed  of 
gravel  which  had  clearly  been  brought  in  as  a  filling  after  the  work  of  valley- 
making  had  reached  practically  its  present  stage. 

At  Zulfagar,  in  the  ancient  lake  basin  of  Zorabad,  the  valley  of  the  Heri  Rud 
again  widens,  and  at  once  the  number  of  terraces  increases.  In  one  side  valley  five 
terraces  were  noted  cut  in  the  ancient  lake  clays  ;  in  two  or  three  others  the  number 
is  four,  while  in  many  cases  there  has  been  so  much  undercutting  or  change  of  some 
sort  that  onh-  the  minimum  number  of  two  is  preser\-ed.  Along  the  main  ri\-er  the 
terraces,  where  best  preserved,  number  five,  of  which  the  first,  tliird,  and  fifth  are 
usually  strong,  while  the  second  and  fourth  are  weak  or  missing.  Some  10  miles 
south  of  the  Afghan  boundary  and  a  little  upstream  from  the  dam  of  Dat  Mehemet 
Khan,  a  very  significant  section  is  .seen  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river  as  one  looks 
downstream  from  the  cultivated  fields  east  of  Khatami,  on  the  left  side  of  tlie  river 
(fig.  157).  Here  the  gravel  renniants  of  what  seem  to  be  the  third  and  fourth  ter- 
races, counting  from  below  upward,  are  seen  to  lie  on  a  slope  of  westward-dipping 
shales  which  must  have  been  subjected  to  erosion.  The\-  indicate  that  before  the 
formation  of  each  terrace  the  valle\-  must  have  been  cut  well  below  the  level  of  that 
teixace,  though  not  necessarily  to  the  present  depth,  and  then  filled  with  gravel. 
This  is  not  absolutely  inconsistent  with  a  tectonic  origin  of  the  terraces,  but  inas- 
much as  this  section  lies  close  to  what  nuist  have  been  the  axis  of  any  supptosed 


26o 


THE   BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA    AND    SISTAN. 


uplift,  it  would  demand  that  for  the  jiroduction  of  each  individual  terrace  there 
must  have  been  an  uplift  to  cause  dissection  and  a  depression  to  cause  deposition. 
If  the  terraces  are  of  climatic  origin  no  such  complicated  and  highly  specialized 
wavering  of  the  earth's  crust  is  required. 

Upstream  from  the  Khitayi  section  the  Heri  Rud  traverses  a  narrow  limestone 
gorge  through  which  there  is  at  present  no  cara\an  trail,  and  where,  so  far  as  could 
be  seen,  there  are  no  terraces.  Twenty-five  miles  farther  south,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Jam  River,  where  the  valley  again  widens,  terraces  appear  once  more  to  the  number 
of  four,  with  the  remnants  of  what  seems  to  be  a  fifth  farther  back.  They  are  cut 
in  the  brownish  and  reddish  shales  described  previously  and  are  characterized  by 
a  heavy  stratum  of  gravel  from  5  to  20  feet  thick  lying  upon  the  soft  shales  or  silts, 
unconfonnably  as  a  rule.  Owing  to  the  softness  of  the  material,  all  the  terraces 
are  very  broad.     Upstream  the  lower  terrace  grows  continually  wider,  apparently 


A,  B,  and  C=terraces  of  horizoutal  gravel.     D=tilted  shale.     E  F^course  of  riTer  from  right  to  left. 
Fig.  137. — Terraces  o(  the  Heri  Rud,  near  Khatayi.     View  northeast  across  the  river  into  Afghanistan. 

because  the  silts  become  softer,  until,  at  the  point  where  the  Heri  Rud  turns  from 
a  westward  to  a  northward  course,  it  fonns  a  plain,  10  or  even  20  miles  wide,  and 
the  upper  terraces  are  entirely  consumed. 

THE  LAKE  OF  KOGNEH  NEMBKSAR. 

The  salt  lake  of  Kogneh  is  situated  near  the  mouth  of  the  Jam  River,  in  the 
northwestern  angle  between  that  stream  and  the  Heri  Rud,  close  to  where  the  latter 
passes  out  of  the  open  region  of  terraces  which  has  just  been  described  (see  fig.  158). 
The  lake  is  of  insignificant  size,  only  a  mile  long  from  northwest  to  southeast,  and 
three-quarters  of  a  mile  in  the  other  direction.  It  has  no  outlet  at  any  season. 
Wlien  we  saw  it  in  December  a  small  stream  flowed  into  it  from  the  northwest,  and 
there  was  a  little  water  in  pools  here  and  there.  The  amount  of  water  maj'  have 
been  more  than  appeared  at  first  sight,  as  the  surface  of  the  lake  was  covered  with 
a  sheet  of  salt,  and  the  shores  were  composed  of  thick,  black  mud,  so  wet  that  it  was 
impossible  to  approach  the  open  water.     On  all  sides  except  the  northwest  the  lake 


EXAMPLES   OF   TERRACES. 


261 


is  bounded  by  steep  bluffs,  35  feet  high,  which  on  the  north  and  northeast  are  com- 
posed of  a  rather  solid  fonnation  which  appears  to  be  a  portion  of  the  half-lithified 
basin  silts  of  Tertian*-  age.  On  the  southeast  and  south  the  bluff  consists  entirely 
of  stream-laid  gravel.  On  the  northwest  side,  whence  the  lake  receives  its  water 
supply,  a  plain,  at  first  marshy,  rises  gently  to  the  great  basin  plain  of  silt  bordered 
by  gravel,  in  which  are  located  Kalagak  and  Turbat-i-vSlieik  Jam.  The  rise  from 
the  lake  to  Kalagak,  however,  is  not  perfectly  smooth,  for  beyond  the  marsh)-  border 
it  is  broken  by  two  small  terraces,  the  lower  of  which  is  very  slight,  while  the  upper, 
perhaps  15  feet  above  the  water-le\-el,  is  also  slight,  although  it  is  clearh-  marked. 
Around  the  lake  itself,  at  the  foot  of  the  bluffs  and  about  10  feet  above  the  water- 
level,  is  a  beach  which  extends  downward  4  or  5  feet.  It  may  represent  the  extreme 
high-water  level  of  to-da}-,  although  I  could  get  no  information  on  this  point.     It 


Fig.  1 58. — Sketch-map  of  Kogneh  Lake  and  tKe  Jam  Basin. 

probably  corresponds  to  the  lower  terrace.  The  bluff  which  surrounds  the  lake  is 
very  flat-topped  and  is  unbroken  except  at  one  point  on  the  southeast  side,  where 
there  is  a  notch,  broadly  flat-floored  and  some  12  or  15  feet  deep.  This  notch  opens 
into  the  head  of  a  well-defined  valley  which  discharges  to  the  Jam  River,  as  shown 
in  the  sketch.  It  is  evidently  not  occupied  by  water  even  during  tlie  highest  floods, 
and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  is  an  abandoned  chamiel,  representing  a  former 
higher  stand  of  the  lake.  It  probably  corresponds  to  the  upper  of  the  two  small 
terraces  on  the  northwest,  but  the  latter  seemed  to  be  lower  than  the  notch,  and  as 
no  exact  measurements  could  be  taken  the  matter  must  be  left  inisettled.  The 
phenomena  immediately  about  the  lake  indicate  that  the  water  must  at  various  times 
have  stood  at  three,  or  possibly  four  different  le\-els.     First,  the  le\-el  of  the  top  of 


262  THE    BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA    AND    SISTAN. 

the  gravel  bluff;  second,  the  level  of  the  old  outlet;  third,  the  level  of  the  upper 
terrace,  although  this  may  be  the  same  as  the  old  outlet ;  and  fourth,  the  level  of 
the  lower  terrace  and  the  beach  which  may  be  reached  to-da}-  in  time  of  flood. 

At  a  little  distance  from  the  lake  we  find  evidence  of  still  other  changes  in  the 
behavior  of  the  water-courses.  If  the  le\-el  top  of  the  gravel  bluff  south  of  the 
lake  be  followed  northwestward,  it  will  be  found  that  it  merges  smoothly  into  the 
plain  of  Kalagak.  In  the  plain  the  .streams  have  incised  themselves  to  a  depth  of 
from  4  to  10  feet,  in  response  apparently  to  the  changes  in  lake  level  indicated  by 
the  little  terraces.  On  the  edges  of  the  plain  two  terraces  of  quite  a  different  kind 
present  strong  escarpments  heavily  capped  with  gravel.  These  correspond  to  the 
uppermost  of  the  terraces  of  the  Heri  Rud,  as  appears  by  following  them  to  the 
south,  where  tliey  are  well  displayed.  Along  the  Jam  River  seven  terraces  can  be 
seen  in  certain  places,  but  as  two  of  them,  near  the  bottom  of  the  series,  do  not 
seem  to  be  permanent,  we  shall  consider  them  as  adventitiotis  and  leave  them  out 
of  account.  The  third  terrace,  counting  the  upper  and  oldest  as  the  first,  corresponds 
to  the  Kalagak  plain  and  to  the  top  of  the  bluff  south  of  the  lake.  The  fourth  ter- 
race, that  is,  the  one  next  to  the  bottom,  if  it  be  traced  toward  the  lake,  is  found  to 
coincide  with  the  bottom  of  the  old  outlet.  A  little  tributar}-  of  the  Jam  is  now 
gnawing  back  into  the  soft  gravel  in  which  the  fonner  outlet  is  trenched,  and  will 
in  time  cut  through  the  bluff  and  drain  the  lake.  The  fourth  and  fifth  terraces  along 
the  Jam  seem  to  correspond  to  the  low  terraces  northwest  of  the  lake  and  to  the 
slight  channeling  of  the  Kalagak  plain.  The  terraces  along  the  Jam  are  strong 
while  the  others  are  weak,  because  the  main  ri\er  was  able  to  continually  deepen  its 
channel,  wliile  the  lake  furnished  abut  slightly  changeable  base-level  and  prevented 
its  tributaries  from  cutting  deeply. 

Turning  now  from  a  mere  statement  of  facts  to  a  consideration  of  causes,  we 
must  first  sum  up  the  historj'  of  the  lake  of  Kogneh  and  the  neighboring  rivers. 
Originally  an  uninteiTupted  stream  must  have  flowed  from  Kalagak  to  Daniduo, 
where,  after  passing  what  is  now  the  site  of  Kogneh  Lake,  it  joined  the  Jam  River, 
and  the  combined  streams  emptied  into  the  Heri  Rud.  For  some  reason  this  whole 
river  system  was  subjected  to  certain  s}'stematic  changes  by  wliich  the  streams  were 
at  first  induced  to  dejxjsit  abundant  gravel  and  to  wander  widely  from  side  to  side. 
Then  other  conditions  ensued  under  which  the  streams  acted  in  exactly  the  opposite 
fashion  and  cut  deeph-  into  their  beds,  carrying  away  much  of  the  gravel,  cutting 
even  into  the  underlying  rock  and  forming  high  terraces.  Just  how  many  such 
alternations  took  place  we  are  unable  to  say,  but  there  were  at  least  two  before  the 
formation  of  Kogneh  Lake.  During  the  third  time  of  gravel  deposition  and  river 
wandering,  the  large  Jam  River  deposited  its  load  so  rapidl}'  across  the  mouth  of  the 
Kalagak  stream  that  the  latter  could  not  keep  an  outlet  clear.  Thus  a  bar  was 
formed  across  the  mouth  of  the  Kalagak  \'alle)-,  and  behind  this  the  brook  spread 
out  into  the  lake  of  Kogneh,  finding  an  outlet  to  the  main  stream  as  best  it  could 
among  the  gravels  of  its  bigger  neighbors.  Up  to  this  point  the  history  of  the 
region  is  explicable  either  on  the  tectonic  or  the  climatic  theory  ;  from  this  time 
onward  only  the  climatic  theory  seems  competent  to  account  for  all  the  facts. 


EXAMPLES   OF   TERRACES.  263 

When  the  third  period  of  degradation  and  valley  deepening  set  in,  the  volume 
of  the  streams,  according  to  the  tectonic  theor\',  was  unaffected,  and  Kogneh  Lake 
must  have  remained  full.  Supposing  this  to  be  the  case,  the  lake  continued  to 
overflow  to  the  Jam  River  throughout  the  third  period  of  degradation  and  the  fourth 
period  of  aggradation.  At  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  period  of  degradation  the 
flow  of  the  Kalagak  stream  was  somehow  so  diminished  that  the  lake  no  longer 
flowed,  and  the  al^andoned  outlet  was  left  at  the  level  of  the  fourth  terrace.  The 
cause  of  the  sudden  desiccation  of  the  lake,  no  marked  change  of  climate  being 
admitted,  can  only  have  been  a  diversion  of  some  of  the  tributaries  of  the  Kalagak 
brook.  I  saw  no  sign  of  any  such  diversion  and  it  is  not  likely  that  it  took  place, 
but  without  detailed  study  of  the  region  this  can  not  be  asserted  positively.  The 
last  change  in  the  lake,  b}-  which  the  lower  terrace  was  fonned,  will  have  to  be 
explained  by  the  same  gratuitous  assumption  that  a  tributar\-  of  the  Kalagak  was 
again  diverted,  this  time  toward  instead  of  away  from  the  lake.  It  can  not  have 
been  the  same  tributar\-  as  on  the  earlier  occasion,  because  it  only  sufficed  to  half 
fill  the  lake.  Lastly,  this  second  tributary'  must  have  been  again  diverted  in  order 
to  bring  the  lake  to  its  present  condition.  These  changes  must  have  taken  place 
at  the  same  time  that  the  lower  terraces  were  being  formed  along  the  Jam  and  the 
Heri  Rud.  It  is  possible  to  explain  the  phenomena  of  Kogneh  Lake  on  the  tectonic 
hypothesis,  but  it  in\olves  several  assumptions  for  which  there  is  no  basis  in  facts 
of  observation. 

The  climatic  hypothesis  is  simpler  and  involves  no  assumption  beyond  the 
facts  of  observation.  At  the  end  of  the  third  period  of  aggradation,  after  the  lake 
had  been  fonned,  it  is  supposed  that  an  interfluvial  epoch  ensued.  The  lake  was 
desiccated  to  such  a  degree  that  it  no  longer  overflowed ;  the  neighboring  rivers 
eroded  their  channels  and  fonned  a  third  tenace.  Another  change  of  climate  with 
an  increase  in  the  size  of  the  streams  filled  the  lake  to  overflowing  and  caused  the 
rivers  to  aggrade.  When  this  came  to  an  end  the  outlet  had  been  cut  to  a  depth 
which  corresponded  with  the  fourth  terrace  of  the  Jam,  at  which  level  the  river  was 
then  flowing.  Another  interfluvial  epoch  left  the  lake  empty  and  allowed  the 
cutting  of  the  fourth  terrace.  During  the  last  fluvial  epoch  the  increase  in  the 
volume  of  the  streams  was  so  moderate  that  the  lake  was  not  filled  to  overflowing, 
but  merely  to  the  level  of  the  lower  tenace,  while  in  the  river  valleys  slight  deposits 
of  gravel  were  laid  down.  Lasth-,  the  present  dry  epoch  leaves  the  lake  almost 
empty  and  has  allowed  the  cutting  of  the  lowest  terrace  along  the  streams.  Theory- 
and  fact  seem  to  agree  perfectly.  If  the  climatic  theor}-  is  the  true  explanation 
of  the  phenomena  of  Kogneh  Lake,  it  must  apply  also  to  the  terrace  of  the  Heri 
Rud,  for  the  two  are  inextricably  connected. 

THE  SALT   LAKE   OF   PDL-IKHATCN. 

The  other  salt  lake  to  which  reference  has  been  made  lies  back  upon  our  line 
of  march  in  Russian  tenitory  about  7  miles  east  of  the  gorge  of  the  Heri  Rud  at 
Piil-i-Khattm.  Shor  Kul,  or  Salt  Lake,  as  it  is  called,  is  realh-  a  plaja,  a  perfectly 
smooth  expanse  of  salt-covered  mud,  3  or  4  miles  long  and  half  as  wide,  and  l>ing 
at  a  height  of  about  2,000  feet  above  the  sea.     It  was  so  dn-  in  November,  1903, 


264  THE   BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA    AND    SISTAN. 

that  in  ridino;  almost  across  the  middle  of  il  my  horse's  hoofs  sank  in  only  abont 
an  inch.  The  whole  expanse  is  covered  with  a  beautifnlly  crystalline  deposit  of 
salt,  thinner  on  the  ed<^es  and  thicker  toward  the  middle,  where  it  crackles  like 
snow  nnder  the  horse's  hoofs.  The  smooth  playa  floor  is  divided  into  broad  concentric 
bands  which  grow  successively  whiter  and  more  thickly  covered  with  salt  toward 
the  center.  They  appear  to  mark  stages  to  which  the  water  had  risen  during  the 
last  season,  and  have  the  irregular  boundaries  characteristic  of  water  which  stands 
on  an  almost  level  surface.  To  the  eye  the  surface  of  the  playa  seems  perfectly 
level,  Init  there  is  a  slight  slope,  as  is  shown  by  a  beach  marking  the  high-water 
level  of  spring.  At  the  south  end  this  can  hardly  be  distinguished  from  the  floor 
of  the  playa,  but  a  mile  or  two  farther  north  it  lies  distinctly  8  or  10  feet  above 
the  floor.  No  lacustrine  terraces  could  be  detected,  although  the  bluffs,  which  are 
cut  in  soft  sandstone,  dipping  gently  northeastward,  and  which  sometimes  reach  a 
height  of  a  hundred  feet,  seem  to  have  been  imdercut  during  a  former  higher  stand 
of  the  water.  The  tributary  valleys,  however,  show  terraces  to  the  number  of  three, 
cut  partly  in  rock  and  partly  in  a  filling  of  gravel.  Away  from  the  lake  these 
gradually  die  out  in  the  course  of  a  few  miles.  They  might  easily  be  due  to  an 
intermittent  warping  by  which  the  basin  was  deepened,  although  that  would  demand 
a  rather  complex  system  of  movements  by  which  a  minor  basin  warping  should  be 
superposed  upon  the  main  warping  demanded  for  the  Heri  Rud.  A  climatic  origin 
is  simpler,  but  the  terraces  are  too  poorly  developed  to  be  of  great  importance. 

NKMEKSAR   OR   THE   PLAYA   OF   KHAP. 

Beyond  the  great  northward  bend  of  the  Heri  Rud,  in  the  southward  con- 
tinuation of  the  Afghan  depression,  the  playa  of  Khaf — the  Nemeksar  par  excellence — 
and  its  basin  continue  the  terrace  phenomena  of  the  more  northern  districts,  though 
the  maxinnnn  number  of  terraces  is  less.  At  the  northeasten  comer  of  the  basin 
we  passed  three  valleys,  all  of  which  show  two  strong  terraces  of  the  usual  type, 
with  heavy  gravel  beds  covering  the  horizontal  portions  and  with  the  vertical 
portions  cut  partly  in  the  gravel  and  parti}-  in  the  underljing  rock.  Besides  these 
there  were  two  minor  terraces,  scarcely  worth  mentioning,  one  between  the  two 
strong  ones  and  one  below. 

In  the  higher  valleys  of  the  pass  near  Chani  Well,  8  or  10  miles  north  of  the 
northeast  corner  of  the  playa,  a  phenomenon  was  noticed  which  is  rather  connnon 
in  the  mountains  of  this  part  of  the  world.  The  steeper  valleys  are  filled  with 
coarse  gravel  firmly  consolidated  b\-  a  calcareous  cement,  and  now  dissected  into 
rude  terraces.  The  deposit  is  closel)'  analogous  to  the  gravel  of  the  ordinary 
terraces,  but  diflfers  in  being  found  in  very  steep  ungraded  valleys  and  in  being  well 
consolidated.  Apparently  these  two  features  belong  together,  since  only  a  well- 
consolidated  deposit  could  retain  its  position  under  present  conditions  on  so  steep 
a  slope.  The  gravel  and  terraces  appear  to  be  due  to  changes  of  climate,  since  they 
are  found  in  ungraded  valleys  which  would  be  wholly  uninfluenced  by  any  movement 
of  uplift  or  warping  which  did  not  directly  affect  their  own  grade.  It  is  highly 
improbable  that  earth  movements,  detennined  as  they  must  be  by  broadly  acting 
and  largely  subterranean  causes,  should  so  adjust  themselves  as  to  accelerate  all  the 


EXAMPLES   OF   TERRACES.  265 

chief  ungraded  streams  of  several  neighboring  mountain  ridges.  Yet  such  must 
necessarily  be  the  case,  if  the  gravels  and  their  terracing  are  due  to  a  tectonic  cause. 
The  most  probable  explanation  is  that  they  occur  in  valleys  which  are  ordinarily 
ungraded  and  hence  subject  to  erosion,  but  which  became  graded  during  one  of  the 
fluvial  epochs,  perhaps  not  the  latest,  when  the  climate  was  so  altered  that  even 
these  valleys  assumed  a  graded  condition  and  were  floored  with  flood-plains  of  gravel. 
The  Nemeksar,  or  playa  of  Khaf,  is  a  broad,  almost  waterlesss  expanse  of  salt, 
much  like  the  Pul-i-Khatun  salt  lake.  In  the  late  winter  it  is  said  to  be  entirely 
covered  with  water,  although  in  mid-December  we  saw  but  a  few  detached  bits  of 
open  water  and  were  able  to  ride  out  nearly  a  mile  before  the  nmd  became  dis- 
agreeably deep.  On  the  northern  edge  of  the  playa,  where  high  mountains  rise 
within  a  few  miles,  huge  fans  of  coarse,  angular  gravel  temiinate  close  to  the  edge 
of  the  playa  floor.  Where  they  approach  this  most  nearly  they  end  in  a  distinct 
bluff",  which  is  from  6  to  10  feet  high  and  has  its  base  10  or  12  feet  above  the  edge 
of  the  area  that  seems  now  to  be  subject  to  inundation.  Between  this  latter  limit 
and  the  foot  of  the  little  bluff"  there  is  either  no  gravel  or  else  a  little  very  fine  grit 
that  has  been  brought  in  recently.  The  greater  part  of  the  fonnation  here  is  a  very 
fine  silt,  crusted  thickly  with  salt.  Where  the  fans  do  not  extend  as  far  as  the  line 
at  the  base  of  the  bluff's,  they  die  out  gradually  and  irregularh-  on  a  deposit  of  silt 
of  the  kind  just  described.  In  their  upper  courses  these  fans  are  dissected  by  chan- 
nels which  at  first  grow  deeper  until  they  reach  a  maximum  of  12  or  15  feet  near 
the  middle  of  the  fans,  and  then  decrease  toward  the  playa.  They  appear  to  be 
channels  cut  during  a  fluvial  epoch  through  a  zone  of  maximum  deposition  fonned 
at  a  previous  time  of  greater  desiccation.  The  phenomena  along  the  edge  of  the 
playa  seem  to  indicate  a  somewhat  higher  stand  of  the  water  at  no  ven,-  distant 
day.  The  high-water  level  of  the  present  is  indicated  by  an  ill-defined  beach  a 
few  feet  below  the  base  of  the  little  bluflfs.  Along  the  east  side  of  the  playa,  as  to 
the  north,  the  main  tributary  valleys  show  two  strong  terraces  which  sometimes 
reach  a  combined  height  of  100  feet.  They  are  of  the  usual  t\pe,  deeply  covered 
with  gravel.  Where  the  formations  surrounding  the  lake  consist  of  soft  Tertiary 
fonnations,  there  is  some  indication  of  ancient  undercutting  by  the  waves  at  higher 
levels.  This  feature  is  much  better  shown  in  the  playa  of  Kulberenj,  which  lies  in 
the  Khaf  basin  a  little  to  the  south  of  the  main  playa. 

KDLBERENJ. 

At  Kulberenj  the  whole  playa  is  surrounded  by  two  strong  lacustrine  terraces, 
one  of  which  rises  from  20  to  25  feet  above  the  pla^a  floor,  and  the  other  over  50. 
Below  these  there  is  in  places  a  faint  third  terrace  which  would  be  too  indefinite  to 
mention  if  it  were  not  that  in  other  places  similar  traces  of  a  last  faint  terrace-making 
epoch  are  evident.  The  two  larger  terraces  consist  of  fine  silt,  on  which  is  a  cover 
of  gravel  4  or  5  feet  thick.  Whether  or  not  the  silts  are  the  deposits  of  an  ancient 
lake  of  great  size  is  not  certain,  although  it  is  probable.  The  cutting  of  tlie  terraces 
is  clearly  the  work  of  three  diff"ereut  lakes,  or  of  one  lake  working  at  three  diff"erent 
levels.  Naturally  the  tributary  valleys  are  terraced  to  correspond  to  the  lake.  The 
phenomena  of  Kulberenj,  Khaf,  Pul-i-Khatun,  and  Shor  Kul  in  Chinese  Turkestan 
(see  the  report  on  Turkestan),  all  agree  in  showing  that  two  or   three  times  in 


266 


THE    BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA    AND   SISTAN. 


the  recent  past  the  lakes  of  Central  and  Western  Asia  have  been  more  extensive  than 
at  present.  The  length  of  the  epochs  of  high  water  was  so  short  that  no  beaches 
or  bluffs  were  cut  upon  hard  rocks,  although  very  distinct  ones  were  cut  in  soft  silts 
and  gravels.  In  the  lake  of  Kogneh,  al.so,  three  probable  periods  of  high  water 
are  indicated,  and  these  are  seen  to  be  connected  with  ri\'er  terraces  of  apparently 
the  same  date,  and  also  with  older  ones. 

TERRACES   AMONG    THE   MOUNTAINS   FROM    MESHED   TO    BIRJAND. 

F'rom  the  basin  of  Khaf  our  route  led  westward  into  the  mountains  to  the  east 
of  Birjand,  thence  southeastward  to  Sistan,  and  finally  back  by  another  route  north- 
westward to  Meshed.  Sistan  is  so  important  that  it  will  be  reserved  for  fuller 
treatment  later.     The  mountains  from  the  border  of  the  Sistan  basin,  near  Birjand, 


Fig.  159. — A  slightly  terraced  Valley  in  the  Mountains  of  Binalud  Kuh,  30  miles  north  o(  Turbat-i- 

Haideri,  March  3.  1904. 

to  the  vicinity  of  Binalud  Kuh,  near  Meshed,  present  so  many  features  in  common 
and  withal  so  few  of  special  importance,  that  they  may  be  described  in  general  terms 
without  the  tedium  of  particulars.  As  a  rule,  the  parts  of  the  mountainous  districts 
of  which  the  traveler  in  Persia  sees  most  are  the  areas  of  deposition,  the  basins. 
In  these  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  terraces  either  of  tectonic  or  climatic  origin 
should  be  found,  for  the  streams  oftentimes  come  to  an  end  in  gravel,  even  though 
the  form  of  the  mountains  round  about  shows  that  they  might  find  ready  outlet 
from  the  basins,  as  they  probably  have  done  in  the  past,  if  only  they  were  provided 
with  sufficient  water.  A  significant  feature  of  the  basins  is  that  almost  universally 
gravel  is  encroaching  upon  finer  sediments  of  a  silt)-  or  sandy  character. 

Wherever  valle\s  were  seen  in  which  water  sometimes  flows,  they  were  found 
to  be  terraced  almost  without  exception.     The  terraces  are  for  the  most  part  cut  in 


EXAMPLES   OF   TERRACES. 


267 


a  valley  filling  of  gravel  and  are  of  small  size.  In  many  places  they  number  but 
one,  although  farther  north,  around  Turbat-i-Haideri,  and  among  the  mountains 
south  of  Meshed,  two  was  the  usual  number.  Most  of  the  valleys  in  which  the 
terraces  were  found  drain  either  to  the  Heri  Rud  or  to  the  Khaf  playa,  or  at  least 
belong  to  the  systems  of  which  the  river  and  the  playa  are  the  final  gathering- 
grounds.  If  the  tributaries  all  reached  the  main  streams  it  would  be  fair  to  infer 
that  the  diminutive  terraces  of  the  branches  might  be  the  reflection  of  the  large 
terraces  of  the  trunks,  and  were  possibh'  due  to  a  cause  acting  at  some  distant 
point  downstream.  Inasmuch,  however,  as  many  of  the  branches  never  reach  the 
trunks  at  any  time,  and  as  some  of  them  are  separated  from  the  tnmks  by  ungraded 
stretches  over  which  the  influence  of  a  downstream  displacement  would  not  be  felt, 
it  becomes  almost  necessary  to  refer  these  minor  terraces  to  some  local  cause.  If 
this  is  done,  crustal  movements  are  out  of  the  question,  since  an  impossible  com- 
plexity and  conformit)-  with  the  minor  surface  features  would  be  required.  The 
only  other  possible  explanation  seems  to  be  climatic  change. 

THE  TERRACES  ON  THE  BORDERS  OF  THE  DASHT-I-LUT. 

Along  the  borders  of  the  Dasht-i-Lut,  where  the  streams  run  with  greater 
strength  than  they  do  among  the  gra\-el-clogged  uplands,  there  is  again  a  considera- 
ble development  of  terraces.     In  the  valley  of  Haji  Hussein  Beg,  a  day's  journey 

northwest  of  Birjand  on  the  road 
to  Tun,  there  are  four  good  ter- 
races of  the  old  familiar  type, 
gravel,  more  or  less  cemented  by 
calcite,  above,  and  rock  below 
(fig.  160).  These  terraces  are 
highest  along  the  steeper  part  of 
the  stream's  course,  and  die  out 
as  it  approaches  the  smooth  salt 
playa  of  Mehemetabad.  There- 
fore they  can  not  be  due  to  any  change  in  the  playa  whereby  it  became  a  lake.  Indeed 
such  a  change  would  be  impossible,  since  if  the  water  of  the  playa  rose  ever  so  little 
it  would  overflow  to  the  Dasht-i-Lut,  and  the  playa  could  not  be  pennanenth-  cov- 
ered with  water  unless  the  whole  of  Central  Persia  were  converted  into  a  vast  lake. 
The  terraces  of  Haji  Hussein  Beg  may  be  due  to  warping  which,  for  some  peculiar 
reason,  assumed  such  a  form  as  to  produce  the  same  number  and  sort  of  terraces  here 
in  this  detached  locality  which  it  had  produced  at  approximately  the  same  time  in  a 
score  of  other  distant  places.  Or  these  terraces  may  be  due  to  climatic  changes, 
in  which  case  their  likeness  to  those  of  other  regions  is  a  necessary  part  of  the  theorj-. 
From  Mehemetabad  nearly  to  Bajistan,  35  miles  north  of  Tun,  there  are  no 
good  series  of  terraces,  and  the  scenery  is  much  like  that  of  the  mountains  to  the 
east — gravel  fans,  buried  mountains,  and  valleys  with  a  single  or  occasionally  a 
double  terrace.  At  Bajistan  three  small  valleys  come  together,  each  of  which  has 
one  terrace  cut  in  stratified  gravel  and  brown  silt.  The  town  lies  on  what  seems  to 
be  an  older  terrace,  which   has  been  half-buried  by  the  later  deposit  of  gravel,  in 


Fig.  160. — Terraces  in  the  Valley  of  Haji  Hussein  Beg  in  the 
Chahak  Basin. 


268 


THE   BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND    SISTAN. 


which  tlie  youn<(cr  terraces  are  cut  (fig.  i6i).  This  is  a  good  illustration  of  the  way 
in  which  older  terraces  disappear,  and  explains  why,  in  regions  of  gravel  deposition, 
it  frequently  hapi)ens  that  only  one  terrace  exists  where  we  should  expect  to  find  more. 
The  upper  terrace  at  Bajistan  consists  of  fine  silt  with  a  cover  of  gravel  from 
I  to  3  feet  thick.  It  is  the  same  phenomenon  of  gravel  lying  with  a  slight 
unconformity  on  fine  silt,  which  is  so  noticeable  throughout  the  whole  of  Central 
Asia  from  Kashgar  to  Sistan.  On  the  tectonic  hj'pothesis  it  can  only  be  explained 
by  supposing  that  the  times  of  the  deposition  of  the  valley  fillings  lasted  so  long 
that  the  processes  of  erosion  and  weathering  reduced  the  slopes  of  the  mountains  to 
a  well-graded  condition,  which  allowed  them  to  furnish  the  streams  with  nothing 
but  finely  comminuted  detritus.     Times  of  uplift  then  ensued  and  at  first  caused 


Fig.  161. — The  Town  of  Bajistan,  loolcing  east.     In  the  Middle  Foreground  the  Fields  are  Terraced  (or 
Cultivation.      In  the  immediate  foreground  lies  a  fluviatile  terrace  cut  in  silt  and  gravel. 

rapid  erosion  and  a  flooding  of  the  valleys  with  gravel.  Soon,  however,  the 
accumulations  upon  the  graded  slopes  were  all  washed  away,  and  the  streams  relied 
merely  upon  the  products  of  contemporary  weathering,  which  naturally  furnished 
a  much  lighter  load  than  the  sudden  carrying  away  of  the  accumulated  product  of 
many  years'  weathering.  When  the  streams  were  thus  more  lightly  loaded,  they  at 
once  began  to  deepen  their  channels  and  form  the  terraces.  Such  an  explanation 
is  quite  possible  in  the  case  of  a  single  terrace,  but  it  fails  entirely  when  we  come 
to  two  or  more.  If  the  interval  between  the  fonnation  of  two  successive  terraces 
was  so  long  as  to  allow  the  mountain  slopes  to  be  reduced  from  an  ungraded  to  a 
graded  condition,  it  is  inconceivable  that  so  slight  a  thing  as  an  unconsolidated  terrace 
should  be  preserved  from  one  cycle  to  the  next. 


EXAMPLES   OF   TERRACES.  269 

According  to  the  climatic  hj-pothesis  this  difficulty  disappears.  During  a  fluvial 
epoch  a  decrease  in  evaporation  or,  still  more,  an  increase  in  precipitation,  would 
cause  ungraded  mountain  slopes  to  become  graded  and  covered  with  vegetation. 
The  material  washed  down  from  such  graded  slopes  and  deposited  in  the  valleys 
and  plains  would  be  relatively  fine,  whether  it  happened  to  be  deposited  in  valley 
bottoms,  in  playas,  or  in  lakes.  When  an  interfluvial  epoch  ensued,  vegetation  would 
become  scarce,  floods  would  be  more  frequent  and  violent,  and  it  would  be  but  a  short 
time  before  the  slopes  would  assume  their  present  ungraded  condition.  During  this 
process  the  streams  would  at  first  be  heavily  loaded  with  the  products  of  previous 
weathering,  which  they  would  deposit  in  widespread  beds  of  gravel ;  but  ere  long 
the  supply  would  fail,  and  the  streams  would  begin  to  deepen  their  channels  and  fonn 
terraces.  This  process  might  be  repeated  a  number  of  times  in  rapid  succession  and 
thus  a  series  of  terraces  would  be  formed.  In  parts  of  its  flood-plain  where  a  stream 
happened  to  be  flowing  at  the  time  of  a  change  from  wet  to  dry  conditions,  the  transi- 
tion from  silt  to  gravel  would  be  gradual  and  there  would  be  no  unconformity. 
Elsewhere  the  change  would  be  marked  by  a  sharp  unconfonnity.  Both  of  these 
conditions  are  found,  but,  as  might  be  expected,  unconformability  is  the  rule. 

At  the  northeastern  end  of  the  basin  of  Bajistan,  not  far  from  the  city  of 
Turbat-i-Haideri,  there  are  again  four  terraces,  which  must  be  due  to  a  highly 
specialized  warping  of  that  particular  basin,  unless  they  are  due  to  changes  of 
I  climate.     The    tops  of  the  red- 

~/^^\k  dish  silts,   previously   described, 

/  /    /^^^^^^^^9^^^^^^9=aa  /fi2332E923S|      are  beveled  by  an  old  grade  plain 

y/  /     /  y/  /   /   /   /^'^ /  /  /  /      covered  with  from  5  to  15  feet  of 
/     /      /     /////////A      gravel  (fig.   162).     Below  this  are 

Fig.  162. — Terraces  at  the  Northeastern  Comer  of  the  Bajistan  traces    of    a    SCCOnd    grade    plain 

forming  a  second  terrace  which 
is  almost  consumed.  At  the  base  of  the  second  terrace  lies  the  broad  plain  of  Bajistan, 
in  which  are  cut  two  more  terraces.  There  are  thus  four  gravel-covered  terraces  sepa- 
rated into  two  groups.  The  same  phenomenon  is  noticeable  at  Kogneh  Lake  and 
elsewhere.  There  seems  to  have  been  a  long  interval  between  the  formation  of  two 
groups  of  terraces.  The  fact  that  this  division  is  observed  in  widely  separated  places 
makes  it  probable  that  the  cause  of  the  terracing  was  of  such  widespread  appli- 
cation as  to  affect  enormous  areas  in  precisely  the  same  wa3^  This  would  be  true 
of  climate,  but  not  of  warping. 

SUMMARY. 

The  part  of  Central  Asia  touched  upon  in  this  report  and  in  the  preceding 
report  on  Turkestan  embraces  22  degrees  of  longitude  and  12  degrees  of  latitude  in 
the  heart  of  the  arid  portion  of  the  continent.  Between  the  extreme  limits  of 
Kizil  Arvat  on  the  west  and  Issik  Kul  Lake  on  the  east  the  distance  is  i,2CX)  miles, 
while  from  north  to  south  tlie  distance  is  800  miles.  Throughout  this  large  area, 
wherever  young  or  mature  mountains  have  been  observed,  the  valleys  contain 
terraces  composed  in  whole  or  in  part  of  gravel  which  must  have  been  brought 
into  them  after  they  had  reached  nearly  their  present  condition. 


270  THE    BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND   SISTAN. 

There  are  two  hypotheses  in  explanation  of  the  terraces — either  the  terraces 
are  due  to  warping  of  the  earth's  cnist  or  they  are  due  to  the  changes  of  climate 
which  in  colder  regions  caused  the  successive  epochs  of  the  glacial  period.  The 
terraces  of  each  valley,  taken  by  themselves,  can  be  explained  on  the  first  of 
these  theories  as  due  to  warping  of  the  earth's  crust.  Such  warping  is  essentially 
a  local  manifestation.  The  force  which  produces  it  may  act  simidtaucously  over 
large  areas,  but  the  manner  of  manifestation  is  almost  sure  to  varj'  in  details  from 
place  to  place.  Moreover,  the  force  is  an  internal  agency,  and  its  manifestations 
can  not  be  expected  to  coincide  universally  with  such  puny  surface  features  as  indi- 
vidual \-alle\s.  When  we  examine  the  scores  of  valleys  in  which  terraces  have  been 
noticed,  it  appears  that  the  cause  of  the  terraces  has  acted  in  just  the  way  that 
tectonic  forces  can  not  act.  The  same  phenomena  occur  everywhere  with  the  same 
details  as  to  the  number  of  terraces,  the  method  of  filling  and  then  re-e.\cavating 
the  valleys,  and  the  grouping  of  the  successive  changes.  The  incidence  of  the  cause, 
moreover,  must  be  taken  to  be  that  of  an  exterior,  not  an  interior  agency,  because 
it  has  so  acted  as  to  produce  the  same  effect  upon  all  similar  external  features, 
whether  they  be  remote  from  one  another  or  whether  they  be  closely  and  intricately 
interlocked.  The  more  broadly  the  terraces  are  viewed  the  more  unlikely  does  it 
become  that  they  are  the  product  of  warping. 

The  theory  of  climatic  changes  is  of  directly  the  opposite  character  in  these 
respects,  and  seems  to  fit  all  the  facts.  It  is  not  local,  but  almost  universal  in  its 
application,  since  a  change  of  climate  in  one  place  implies  a  corresponding  change 
in  other  places.  In  a  region  such  as  we  are  discussing  the  details  of  climatic  change, 
and  hence  the  manifestation  of  those  changes,  would  be  almost  identical  everywhere. 
In  the  ne.xt  place,  climate  is  external  in  its  origin,  and  so  may  be  expected  to  adapt 
itself  to  the  minute  details  of  mountain  and  valley,  and  to  produce  the  same  effect 
upon  all  similar  parts,  whether  they  be  remote  or  whether  they  be  closely  interlocked. 

In  addition  to  these  more  general  reasons  for  adopting  the  climatic  rather  than 
the  tectonic  theory  of  the  origin  of  the  terraces,  there  are  others  of  a  more  specific 
character.  At  the  heads  of  some  of  the  valleys  are  old  moraines,  whose  relation  to 
the  terraces  proves  that  the  two  forms  were  in  process  of  constniction  at  the  same 
time.  At  the  lower  ends  of  certain  valleys  are  inclosed  lakes  whose  old  shorelines 
show  that  while  the  terraces  in  the  suiTounding  valleys  were  being  formed  the  lakes 
were  subject  to  pronounced  changes  of  level.  One  such  lake  is  so  closely  connected 
with  the  terraces  of  the  Heri  Rud  as  to  make  it  almost  certain  that  the  changes  in 
the  lake  took  place  simultaneously  with  the  terracing  of  the  river.  Both  moraines 
and  ancient  shorelines  are  well  known  to  indicate  changes  of  climate.  It  is  highly 
improbable  that  at  the  very  time  when  climatic  changes  were  taking  place  and  were 
producing  certain  sets  of  fluviatile  terraces  any  other  agency  should  be  at  work  which 
would  produce  the  same  type  of  terraces  in  almost  the  same  region.  Still  another 
reason  for  accepting  the  climatic  theory  is  that  it  alone  seems  competent  to  explain 
the  habitual  superposition  of  coarser  deposits  upon  finer  deposits  in  the  filling  of  the 
valley  bottoms.  Lastly,  the  phenomena  of  Eastern  Persia  agree  exactly  with  what 
we  should  theoretically  expect  to  find  if  the  climatic  changes  of  the  glacial  period 


TERRACES    IN    TURKEY.  ZJl 

extended  to  that  country,  and  if  those  changes  are  competent  to  produce  recognizable 
physiographic  forms.  The  cause  of  the  abundant  terraces  of  Western  Asia  demands 
much  further  investigation,  but  it  is  at  least  a  fair  working  hypothesis  that  the 
terraces  are  due  to  a  series  of  climatic  oscillations,  and  that  those  oscillations  were 
contemporaneous  with  the  successive  epochs  which  in  other  lands  composed  the 
glacial  period.  If  this  theory  proves  worthy  of  acceptation  it  will  probably  furnish 
the  necessary  clue  to  the  elucidation  of  the  recent  physical  histor)-  of  the  Caspian 
basin  and  of  other  parts  of  the  earth's  surface  immediately  before  and  perhaps  after 
the  advent  of  man. 

TERRACES  IN  TURKEY. 

If  the  conclusions  which  have  been  reached  in  the  preceding  pages  of  this 
report  are  correct,  terraces  of  climatic  origin  ought  to  jircserve  a  record  of  some  of 
the  epochs  of  the  glacial  period  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  especially  where  the 
conditions  resemble  those  of  Persia,  that  is,  among  unglaciated  mountains  in  the 
stages  ot  youth  and  early  maturity  in  regions  of  slight  precipitation.  Several  j-ears 
ago,  in  Eastern  Turkey,  a  thousand  miles  west  of  the  part  of  Persia  which  we  have 
been  considering,  I  ob.served  numerous  terraces  which  I  could  not  then  satisfactorily 
explain.  Almost  invariably  the  bottoms  of  the  valleys  of  Eastern  Turkey  are  filled 
with  gravel  in  which  the  streams  have  incised  newer  valleys,  often  to  a  considerable 
depth.  Thus  along  the  Euphrates  River  in  its  upper  course,  where  it  flows  west- 
ward before  turning  southward  and  eastward  on  its  long  course  through  Mesopotamia, 
there  is  a  strong  gravel  terrace  almost  everywhere  except  in  the  narrow  canyons.  In 
the  Malatia  plain,  for  instance,  this  terrace  ranges  from  30  to  60  feet  in  height. 
Farther  upstream,  along  the  eastern  branch,  or  Murad  Su,  a  few  miles  east  of  Pertag, 
there  is  a  half-consolidated  gravel  which  evidently  was  deposited  in  the  valley  after 
it  had  attained  nearly  its  present  fonn,  and  there  are  also  two  terraces,  one  about  50 
feet  high  and  the  other  nearl)'  100.  In  the  small  tributary  valleys  of  Pekanik  and 
Kurdemlik,  which  here  descend  steeply  northward  from  the  Harput  Mountains, 
there  is  a  dissected  valley  deposit  of  alluvium  which  reaches  a  thickness  of  100  feet. 
The  deposit  is  for  the  most  part  composed  of  silt  and  very  fine  gravel,  quite  different 
from  the  cobbles  and  coarse  gravel  which  now  fill  the  stream-bed.  In  these  deposits 
and  in  many  others  there  are  marked  imconfonnities  like  those  of  Bajistan,  where 
relatively  coarse  material  suddenly  succeeds  fine  silt.  Still  farther  up  the  Euphrates, 
and  along  some  of  its  main  branches,  as  for  instance,  in  the  Harput  and  Peri  plains, 
there  are  extensive  gravel  deposits  in  which  the  streams  have  deeply  intrenched 
themselves.  As  the  higher  mountains  of  Dersim  are  approached  along  the  Peri 
and  Muzur  rivers  the  terraces  become  more  distinct.  In  my  notes  on  a  number  of 
the  smaller  streams  there  are  references  to  "alluvial  terraces,"  "terraced  valleys," 
"a  series  of  terraces,"  or  "several  terraces,"  most  if  not  all  of  which  are  cut  in 
gravel.  The  number  of  terraces  is  not  stated,  for  their  possible  significance  was  not 
then  appreciated,  and  most  of  them  are  small  features,  easy  to  overlook. 

Terraces  are  found  in  other  parts  of  Turkey  in  addition  to  the  Euphrates  Valley. 
My  notes  contain  references  to  similar  phenomena  along  the  Tigris  in  its  upper 
course  southeast  of  Gyuljuk,  along  the  Kizil  Imiak  or   ancient  Halys,  along  the 


272  THE    BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND    SISTAN. 

tributaries  of  the  Yeshil  Irinak  or  Iris,  and  along  the  steep  mountain  torrent  which 
flows  from  the  lofty  Pontic  range  northward  to  the  Black  Sea  at  Tre1)izond.  These 
phenomena  are  probably  due  to  the  same  cause  as  the  similar  phenomena  farther 
east  in  Persia  and  Turkestan. 

TERRACES  IN  NORTH  AMERICA. 

The  southwestern  part  of  the  United  States  is  not  unlike  large  portions  of 
Central  Asia,  and  among  its  higher  mountains  we  should  naturally  look  for  gravel 
terraces  if  our  conclusions  concerning  climatic  changes  are  correct.  As  a  suggestion 
of  the  sort  of  phenomena  to  be  looked  for,  I  shall  cite  a  few  examples  which  I  saw 
in  Utah  and  Arizona  during  the  summer  of  1902. 

The  first  example  is  the  Kanab  Canyon,  in  Southern  Utah,  which  has  been 
described  by  Professor  Davis  {b,  pp.  lo-ii).  This  steep-sided  young  canyon  con- 
tains "two  terraces  of  well-stratified  alluvium,  usually  of  fine  texture  and  containing 
lateral  unconfonnities  such  as  are  to  be  expected  in  the  deposits  of  aggrading  streams. 
The  higher  terrace  is  80  or  100  feet  over  the  stream-bed.  It  is  less  continuous  than 
the  lower  one,  which  stands  from  40  to  75  feet  over  the  stream.  The  channel  below 
the  lower  terrace  is  the  work  of  a  series  of  floods,  beginning  in  the  summer  of  1883. 
A  great  part  of  the  alluvium  then  accumulated  along  the  valley  was  swept  rapidly 
away."  In  external  appearance  and  scale  these  terraces  are  like  many  of  those  found 
in  Persia  and  Turkestan,  and  the  character  of  the  surrounding  mountains  is  the  same 
in  both  parts  of  the  world.  The  sudden  sweeping  away  of  the  alluvium  from  the 
canyon  and  the  formation  of  the  lower  terrace  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  may  be 
compared  with  similar  action  taking  place  in  Asia.  At  Naumzabad,  a  few  miles 
south  of  Serakhs  on  the  Heri  Rud  (Tejan  River),  my  guide  pointed  out  a  place 
where,  during  the  great  flood  of  the  preceding  spring,  whose  appearance  at  Tejan 
has  iDeeii  described  b)'  Professor  Davis,  a  mass  of  alluvium  half  a  mile  long  and 
nearly  a  thousand  feet  wide  was  washed  away,  leaving  a  bluff  a  hundred  feet  high. 
Among  the  mountains  of  Persia  it  frequently  happens  that  if  a  terraced  valley  be 
followed  toward  its  head,  points  will  be  found  where  the  terraces,  one  after  another, 
come  to  an  end.  Often  this  ending,  especially  in  the  case  of  the  lowest  terrace,  is 
very  sudden,  and  it  is  manifest  that  in  ever}-  great  flood  the  inner  channel  cuts  head- 
ward  and  the  terraces  are  prolonged  upstream. 

A  less  marked,  though  distinct,  example  of  the  same  process  of  valley-filling 
and  terracing  is  found  along  Le  Verkin  Creek,  near  Toquerville,  50  miles  west  of 
Kanab.  The  bottom  of  the  young  valley  of  the  creek  is  filled  with  from  10  to  20 
feet  of  alluvial  gravel,  which  the  stream  has  now  dissected,  fonning  a  rude  terrace. 

These  few  examples  of  terraces  in  Turkey  and  North  America  are  not  supposed 
to  lead  to  any  definite  conclusion,  but  are  presented  merely  with  the  purpose  of 
showing  that  if  our  conclusions  as  to  the  terraces  of  Central  Asia  are  correct,  these 
features  in  other  lands  are  what  we  should  expect.  Prolonged  study  is  necessary 
before  we  can  correlate  facts  so  widely  separated.  The  glacial  period  was  a  world- 
wide phenomenon,  and  to  understand  it  fully  we  must  take  a  world-wide  view. 


QUATERNARY   CLIMATIC    CHANGES    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA.  2/3 

THE  NATURE  AND  THE  METHOD   OF  ACTION  OF  THE  QUATERNARY  CLIMATIC 

CHANGES  OF  EASTERN   PERSIA. 

If  we  admit  that  the  terraces  of  Eastern  Persia  are  due  to  climatic  changes,  we 
are  at  once  confronted  by  the  question  of  the  nature  of  the  changes  and  the  method 
of  their  action.  It  seems  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  nature  of  the  changes  was 
the  same  as  that  of  the  changes  which  took  place  in  glaciated  countries  at  the  same 
time,  although  differing  in  degree.  Till  recently  it  has  generally  been  a.ssumed 
that  the  glacial  period  was  characterized  by  increased  precipitation  accompanied  by 
greater  cold.  Penck  and  Bruckner  have  shown,  however,  that  certain  phenomena 
in  the  Alps  can  only  be  explained  on  the  supposition  that  the  precipitation  remained 
nearly  constant,  while  the  degree  of  cold  increased  and  evaporation  therefor  dimin- 
ished to  such  an  extent  that  glaciers  and  inclosed  lakes  expanded  greatly.  Our 
knowledge  of  Persia  is  too  slight  to  justify  any  conclusion  as  to  whether  the  climate 
of  the  flu\ial  and  lacustral  epochs  was  characterized  chieflj-  by  greater  cold  or  by 
greater  precipitation.  The  question  can  not  be  wholly  neglected  in  this  report, 
however,  for  if,  as  seems  probable,  the  last  of  the  fluvial  epochs  occurred  since  the 
occupation  of  the  countrv-  by  man,  the  character  of  the  change  must  have  had  an 
important  bearing  on  human  development. 

A  little  light  may  be  shed  on  the  question  by  considering  the  conditions  which 
must  have  prevailed  during  the  formation  of  the  terraces.  The  most  important  and 
universal  condition  for  the  production  of  climatic  terraces  seems  to  be  that  during 
an  interfluvial  epoch  like  the  present  the  slopes  of  the  mountains  shall  be  ungraded, 
and  during  a  fluvial  epoch  graded.  A  general  view  of  Western  Asia  from  Chinese 
Turkestan  to  Turkey  shows  that  terraces  are  well  developed  among  young  mountains 
such  as  the  Tian  Shan  range  in  Turkestan  and  the  eastern  part  of  the  Taurus  range 
in  Turkey,  where  ungraded  slopes  are  the  rule.  The)-  are  also  numerous  among 
mature  mountains,  provided  the  region  is  so  arid  that  ungraded  slopes  are  charac- 
teristic of  maturity.  Such  a  condition,  as  we  have  seen,  is  well  illustrated  in  Eastern 
Persia.  Among  mountains  which  have  reached  the  stage  of  maturity,  and  are  not 
so  arid  as  to  remain  ungraded,  on  the  contrar\-,  terraces  are  poorl)-  developed,  as  is 
shown  among  many  of  the  lower  mountains  of  Turkey  and  to  a  less  extent  of 
Turkestan.  The  cause  of  the  prevalence  of  terraces  in  regions  where  the  slopes  are 
to-da}-  ungraded  seems  to  be  that  in  such  regions  a  change  of  climate  is  able  to 
produce  marked  effects  upon  the  character  of  the  slopes,  either  by  causing  more 
rapid  weathering  or  by  causing  the  slopes  to  assume  a  graded  condition. 

.\nother  condition  of  terrace  formation  is  that  terraces  do  not  occur  to  any  great 
extent  in  regions  of  deposition  such  as  fans.  When  found  upon  fans  they  almost 
always  soon  die  out  downstream,  showing  that  they  owe  their  origin  to  impulses 
derived  from  farther  upstream  among  the  mountains.  Accordingly,  in  considering 
the  process  of  terrace-making  we  may  confine  our  attention  to  the  mountains  and  to 
those  parts  of  the  mountains  where  erosion  is  actively  at  work  upon  ungraded  slopes. 

It  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  effect  which  an  increased  degree  of  cold  with 
unchanged  precipitation  would  produce  upon  ungraded  slopes  ;  for  among  the  moun- 
tains as  tlie\'  stand  to-day  the  colder,  more  elevated  portions  are  also  subject  to 


274  THE   BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND   SISTAN. 

greater  precipitation.  And  in  the  same  way  a  comparison  of  winter  and  summer 
conditions  affords  no  assistance,  for  the  colder  winters  are  also  times  of  relatively  large 
precipitation.  Nor  does  it  help  lis  if  we  compare  different  years,  the  colder  with 
the  wanner ;  for  we  have  no  statistics  as  to  the  growth  of  vegetation,  the  length  of 
rivers,  and  the  other  factors  which  affect  the  problem.  If  we  suppose,  however,  that 
the  precipitation  remains  constant  and  the  degree  of  cold  increases,  the  amount  of 
evaporation  must  decrease  and  the  size  of  ri\'ers  and  lakes  correspondingly  increase. 
It  would  probably  require  a  great  decrease  in  temperature  to  bring  the  lakes  to  the 
dimensions  of  even  the  more  recent  lacustral  epochs.  Another  effect  of  increased 
cold  would  be  an  increase  in  vegetation  and  perhaps  in  the  rate  of  weathering  of  the 
rocks  by  reason  of  the  greater  amount  of  moisture  which  would  remain  in  the 
gfround.  Here  again  we  have  no  means  of  measuring  the  effect  of  any  possible 
increase  in  cold,  and  so  can  not  feel  any  assurance  as  to  the  adequacy  of  this  cause 
to  produce  the  observed  effects  upon  the  erosion  and  deposition  of  streams. 

The  influence  of  an  increase  of  rainfall  upon  the  ungraded  slopes  of  mountains 
such  as  those  of  Turkestan  and  Persia  can  be  more  easily  estimated.  In  the  case  of 
young  mountains  with  slopes  so  steep  that  they  can  not  possibly  become  graded,  the 
whole  effect  of  increased  precipitation  would  be  to  accelerate  weathering  and  thus  to 
increase  the  load  of  the  streams.  In  the  case  of  streams  which  were  approaching 
grade,  but  were  not  yet  graded,  the  result  of  the  increased  load  would  be  that  it  would 
no  longer  be  possible  for  the  streams  to  cut  downward,  because  they  would  be  so 
heavily  loaded  as  to  cover  their  beds  with  debris.  Hence  they  would  cut  laterally 
and  form  flood-pains  covered  with  gravel.  Upon  the  advent  of  a  drier  time  the  load 
of  the  streams  would  decrease,  but  their  carr}-ing  power  would  remain  almost  the 
same  ;  for  the  carn,-ing  power  of  a  stream  depends  upon  its  maximum  size,  and  the 
maximum  of  flood  size  of  streams  in  arid  regions  is  almost  as  great  as  in  moister 
regions.  With  lessened  loads  and  unlessened  capacity  the  streams  would  begin  to 
cut  downward  once  more,  and  terraces  would  be  formed  which  would  show  a  cap- 
ping of  gravel  with  solid  rock  beneath,  as  is  common  among  the  lofty  and  arid  young 
mountains  of  the  southern  border  of  the  Tian  Shan  range  on  the  northern  side  of  the 
Kashgar  basin. 

Among  young  mountains,  where  the  main  streams  are  graded,  the  result  of 
increased  rainfall  and  increased  load  would  probably  be  that  streams  would  build 
up  their  flood-plains  and  the  valley  bottoms  would  become  filled  with  alluvium, 
most  of  which  would  be  gravel.  A  drier  epoch  would  allow  this  to  be  dissected 
and  terraces  composed  wholly  of  gravel  would  be  fonned,  like  those  found  in  the 
moister  parts  of  the  Tian  Shan  Mountains,  and  to  a  certain  extent  in  Persia. 
Thus  among  young  mountains  o.scillations  between  an  arid  and  a  moister  climate 
would  apparently  produce  two  kinds  of  terraces  ;  first,  ungraded  valleys  would 
contain  terraces  cut  partly  in  rock  and  partly  in  stream-laid  gravel ;  second,  graded 
valleys  would  contain  terraces  cut  wholly  in  stream-laid  gravel. 

In  these  two  cases  the  terraces  of  young  mountains  are  the  result  of  a  changed 
climate,  that  is,  the  maximum  effects  of  deposition  and  of  erosion  are  produced  under 
the  extreme  conditions  of  moisture  or  of  drought.     Among  mature  but  ungraded 


QUATERNARY    CLIMATIC    CHANGES  OF   EASTERN    PERSIA.  275 

mountains,  on  the  other  hand,  terraces  seem  to  be  the  result  of  a  changing  climate, 
that  is,  the  maximum  effect,  of  deposition  at  least,  is  produced  during  the  change 
from  moist  to  drj'  conditions.  A  large  number  of  the  terraces  of  Persia,  it  will  be 
remembered,  are  cut  in  stream-laid  gravel  which  lies  with  a  slight  unconformity  upon 
finer  deposits  of  silt.  It  may  be  that  these  can  be  explained  as  the  product  of 
epochs  of  increased  cold  alternating  with  epochs  of  relative  wannth,  but  data  are  as 
yet  insufficient.  It  is  also  possible  to  explain  them  as  the  product  of  epochs  of 
increased  precipitation  alternating  with  epochs  of  relative  aridity,  but  this  theory 
does  not  necessarily  exclude  the  other. 

In  Persia,  as  has  frequently  come  to  our  notice,  the  rock  slopes  of  mature 
mountains  are  ungraded  because  of  the  aridity  of  the  climate.  If  the  climate  were 
to  become  moister  the  process  of  grading  the  slopes  and  covering  them  with 
vegetation  would  at  once  begin.  So  long  as  solid  rock  lay  near  the  surface  the 
increased  moisture  and  the  increased  number  of  decaying  plants  would  accelerate 
the  process  of  weathering.  Whether  this  increased  weathering  would  increase  the 
load  of  the  streams  depends  on  whether  the  increased  vegetation  is  able  to  hold 
back  the  larger  amount  of  waste  which  is  now  supplied  by  the  decaying  rocks. 
However  this  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  the  load  of  the  streams  would  become  finer 
as  the  process  of  grading  the  slopes  went  on,  and  ultimately  the  flood-plains  would 
be  covered  w'ith  fine  material,  usually  silt,  no  matter  whether  the  streams  were 
aggrading  or  degrading  their  beds. 

When  the  climate  once  more  becomes  arid  the  graded  character  of  the  mountain 
slopes  will  soon  disappear  and  the  old  conditions  will  reign  once  more.  The  process 
of  grading  the  slopes  must  of  necessity  be  slow  and  lag  long  after  the  change  of 
climate  which  gives  rise  to  it,  for  nmch  time  is  required  to  convert  solid  rock  into 
soil.  The  process  of  ungrading  the  slopes,  on  the  contrary',  is  rapid,  and  scarcely 
lags  behind  the  change  of  climate  which  causes  it  As  soon  as  vegetation  begins 
to  drj-  up  because  of  decreased  rainfall,  the  streams  will  begin  to  carry  off  the  soil 
and  weathered  fragments  which  cloak  the  mountain  sides.  The  carrying  power 
of  the  streams  will  remain  approximatelj-  the  same,  but  their  load  will  be  so  greatly 
increased  that  they  will  be  obliged  to  deposit  the  coarser  portions  upon  the  silts  of 
the  valley  flood-plains.  This  process  of  building  up  deposits  can  not  last  indefinitely, 
however,  for  the  supply  of  weathered  material  is  limited,  and  when  once  it  is 
exhausted  the  weakened  forces  of  weathering  can  ftimish  new  supplies  ver}-  slowh-. 
Therefore  it  will  continue  while  the  climate  is  changing.  When  the  change  is  fin- 
ished and  the  climate  has  become  arid,  the  streams  will  no  longer  act  as  heavily  loaded 
agents  of  deposition,  but  will  be  insufficiently  loaded  and  will  act  as  agents  of  erosion. 

Other  more  striking  examples  of  terraces  exist  in  the  semiarid  regions  of  North 
America,  but  little  attention  has  been  paid  to  them.  It  must  not  be  understood  that 
these  few  examples  of  terraces  in  Turkey  and  North  America  are  supposed  to  lead 
to  any  definite  conclusion.  They  are  presented  merely  with  the  purpose  of  showing 
that  if  our  conclusion  as  to  the  climatic  origin  of  the  terraces  of  Central  Asia  is  cor- 
rect, these  features  in  other  lands  are  what  we  should  expect.  Prolonged  study  is 
necessary  before  correlating  facts  so  widely  separated.  The  glacial  period  was  a 
world-wide  phenomenon,  and  to  understand  it  fully  demands  a  world-wide  view. 


276  THE    BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND   SISTAN. 

SISTAN. 

The  basin  of  Sistan  is  unique.  Its  streams,  at  least  during  floods,  focus  in  a 
fresh-water  lake,  exceedingly  flat-bottomed  and  shallow,  and  without  an  outlet  to  the 
sea.  About  this  circles  a  broad  band  of  reedy  swamp,  the  home  of  innumerable 
wild  fowl  and  of  the  strange  Sayids  who  gain  a  livelihood  by  netting  them.  Next 
comes  a  band  of  smooth,  rich  plain,  splendidly  fertile  and  capable  of  supporting  a 
dense  population,  but  bounded  suddenly  and  even  encroached  upon  by  the  grim 
belt  of  the  surrounding  desert.  Wastes  of  blown  sand,  dry  pools  of  glistening  salt, 
and  vast  expanses  of  dark,  lifeless  gravel  fonii  the  desert  which  comprises  half  the 
area  of  the  basin  and  completely  cuts  off  the  inner,  more  hospitable  regions  from  the 
surrounding  mountains  and  the  rest  of  the  world.  In  its  sterile  wastes  all  the  streams 
except  the  Hehnund  wither  to  nothing  and  are  wasted,  except  when  the  floods  of 
spring  cart)'  them  clear  to  the  central  lake.  Outside  of  these  four  belts — the  lake, 
the  swamp,  the  plain,  and  the  desert — the  basin  is  everj'where  bounded  by  mountains. 
On  the  west  and  south,  where  they  lie  close  to  the  lowest  depression,  the  mountains 
are  low  and  arid.  The  streams  which  rise  in  them  are  mere  wet-weather  torrents, 
which  lose  themselves  in  the  piedmont  gravel  a  few  miles  from  their  source.  To 
the  east,  however,  and  even  more  to  the  north,  the  mountains  are  among  the  grandest 
in  the  world.  From  the  northeast  angle  of  the  basin,  near  Kabul,  the  continuation 
of  the  Hindu  Kush  Mountains  stretches  westward  for  a  distance  of  400  miles  to  the 
Afghan  depression.  Of  this  slightly  explored  region,  larger  than  New  England,  we 
know  almost  nothing,  except  that  magnificent  mountains,  from  10,000  to  17,000 
feet  in  height,  pour  their  melted  snows  into  the  tremendous  gorges  of  rushing 
rivers,  the  Hamd,  the  Farah,  the  Khash,  and  the  many  branches  of  the  Hehnund. 
Where  these  streams  reach  the  lower  mountains,  their  valleys  widen  and  are  filled  with 
fields,  orchards,  and  prosperous  villages,  and  a  strip  of  green  abundance  intervenes 
between  the  sterile  mountains  and  the  sterile  plain.     (See  plate  6,  opposite  p.  288.) 

THE    HELMUND    RIVER. 

The  main  features  of  all  the  larger  rivers  of  the  Sistan  basin  may  be  illustrated 
by  a  single  example.  The  Hehnund  of  the  Afghans,  the  Rtymander  of  the  ancients, 
is  the  only  large  river  between  the  Tigris  and  the  Indus.  Rising  among  great 
mountain  peaks  which  tower  to  heights  of  over  15,000  feet,  the  Helmund  flows 
through  the  land  of  the  Hazara  Mongols  (Holdich,  a,  p.  42),  "a  wild  mountainous 
country'  of  which  no  European  has  seen  much  more  than  the  outside  edge.  It  is  a 
high,  bleak,  and  intensely  inhospitable  couutr)',  where  the  snow  lies  for  most  months 
of  the  year,  where  little  or  no  fuel  is  to  be  found,  and  cultivation  is  confined  to  the 
narrow  banks  of  the  Helmund  and  its  tributaries."  F'arther  downstream,  near  the 
edge  of  the  mountains,  Zamindawar,  northwest  of  Kandahar  "  is  a  beautiful  countr}-, 
stretching  up  in  picturesque  valleys  and  sweeping  curves  from  the  Helmund,  and 
filled  with  a  swarming  population  of  well-to-do  cultivators"  (p.  43).  From  Zamin- 
dawar the  river  flows  southward,  and  not  far  below  Girishk  enters  the  desert, 
through  which  it  flows  for  300  miles  to  Sistan,  first  southward,  then  westward,  and 
lastly  northward.  On  the  left  lie  the  deserts  of  Registan  and  northern  Baluchistan, 
which  McMahon  (a,  pp.  13,  14,  16;  b,  p.  290)  and  Holdich  (rt,  p.  104-105)  describe 


SISTAN.  277 

as  consisting  of  flat  plains  of  fine  allnvinni  and  dark  gravel  over  which  the  fierce 
north  winds  drive  fields  of  sand-dunes.  On  the  southern  edges  of  the  desert  the 
dunes  often  attain  a  height  of  200  feet,  and  enormous  drifts  of  sand  bury-  the  volcanic 
mountains  of  northern  Baluchistan  to  depths  of  one  or  two  thousand  feet,  or  even 
more  (McMahon,  b^  p.  290).  North  of  the  Helmund  River  the  Dasht-i-Margo,  or 
Desert  of  Margo,  which  was  crossed  b}-  Ferrier  (rt,  p.  400),  appears  to  be  of  much 
the  same  character,  although  the  sand-hills  are  not  so  high  apparently,  and  the  area 
of  fine  silt  exceeds  that  of  gravel. 

The  river  itself  flows  in  a  distinct  valley  of  erosion,  which  Colonel  McIMahon 
(described  to  me  as  being  broadly  open,  with  three  or  four  persistent  terraces  of  gravel, 
like  those  which  will  be  described  later  as  occurring  along  other  streams  nearer  to 
the  Hamun-i-Sistan.  Between  these  receding  terraces  lies  whatHoldich  («,  p.  106) 
calls  "  the  curious  green  ribbon  of  Helnumd  cultivation  which  divides  the  great 
untraversed  wastes  of  the  Dasht-i-Margo  from  the  somewhat  less  formidable  sand 
deserts  to  the  south."  "  Here  in  a  narrow  little  space  of  a  mile  or  so  in  width  we 
found  the  great  river  shut  in  with  a  green  abundance,  infinitely  refreshing  and 
delightful."  Jungles  of  tamarisks  border  the  river,  and  here  and  there  nomad 
Baluchis  feed  their  flocks,  or  even  cultivate  fields  of  grain.  Far  more  impressive 
than  the  modern  villages,  however,  are  the  innumerable  evidences  of  a  far  greater 
population  which  finally  disappeared  not  many  hundred  years  ago.  Everj'  writer  on 
the  region  dwells  on  the  "  cities  of  the  dead,  spreading  out  like  gigantic  cemeteries 
for  miles  on  either  side  of  the  river,  gaunt  relics  of  palaces  and  mosques  and  houses, 
upright  and  bleached,  scattered  over  acres  of  debris,  masses  of  broken  potter}-,  mounds 
of  ancient  mud  ruins.  .  .  .  The  extent  of  these  Kaiani  ruins  (dating  their  final 
destruction  from  a  centur}^  and  a  half  ago)  would  be  incomprehensible  were  it  not 
for  the  extent  of  the  indications  of  that  canal  system  which  was  developed  from  the 
Helmund  to  assist  in  supporting  the  crowd  of  humanity  which  must  have  dwelt  in 
the  Hehnund  Valley  "  (Holdich,  «,  p.  107). 

The  other  main  afiluents  of  the  Haniun-i-Sistan  repeat  the  features  of  the 
Helmund  on  a  smaller  scale.  Rising  in  the  mountains  south  of  the  Heri  Rud,  they 
run  southwestward  to  the  desert.  Through  this  they  flow  in  intrenched  valleys 
which  are  probably  like  that  of  the  Helmund.  Along  their  courses  through  the 
plains,  ruins  replace  the  settled  villages  of  the  upper  valleys,  while  at  the  heads  of 
the  deltas  not  far  from  the  lake  of  Sistan  the  remains  of  ancient  cities,  such  as 
Peshawaran,  cover  the  plain  for  miles.  Except  for  the  distributaries  which  travcr.se 
the  western  half  of  the  delta  of  the  Helmund,  all  the  important  streams  of  the 
Sistan  basin  are  located  in  Afghan  territory-,  where  exploration  has  always  been 
exceedingly  difficidt.  To-day  it  is  practically  impossible  for  a  European  to  enter 
the  country-,  and  we  must  perforce  rest  content  with  the  scanty  accounts  contained 
in  the  works  of  a  handful  of  adventurous  explorers  half  a  centun,-  ago. 

DESCRIPTION    OF   SIST.\N. 

The  district  of  Sistan  occupies  a  shallow  depression  on  the  southwestern  edge 
of  the  Sistan  basin.  It  comprises  the  lake,  the  swampy  belt  of  reeds,  and  the  low 
arable  plain.     Along  the  western  border  for  a  distance  of  50  miles  or  more  the 


278  THE    BASIN    OF    EASTERN    PERSIA   AND    SISTAN. 

plain  and  the  swamp  are  absent,  and  the  lake  at  high  water  meets  the  gravel  desert. 
In  approaching  Sistan  on  this  side  by  the  ordinary  ronte  from  the  northwest,  the 
traveler  mnst  pass  throngh  the  Gate  of  Rendan,  a  gorge  cut  across  a  low  ridge  of 
limestone.  The  bottom  of  the  gorge  is  filled  with  fine  alluvium,  chieflj-  silt,  which 
is  rapidly  being  cut  away  by  the  stream  (cf.  the  Kanab  canyon  in  Utah,  ante  p.  272). 
The  latter  luis  intrenched  itself  to  a  depth  of  20  feet.  This  gate  is  remarkable  for 
its  large  grove  of  date  palms,  which  flourish  here  in  the  shelter  of  the  mountains, 
although  alsewhere  in  Sistan  the  violent  wind  prevents  their  growth. 

Soutluvest  of  Bendan  the  alluvium  of  the  gorge  broadens  into  the  gravel-covered 
desert  of  Sistan.  As  far  as  the  eye  can  reach  it  encounters  a  smooth  expanse  of 
small  dark  pebbles,  clean  swept  by  the  wind,  and  devoid  of  vegetation  except  for  a 
small  bunchy  weed  every  two  or  three  hundred  feet  (fig.  164).  Valleys  are  incised  in 
this  plain,  but  are  so  sharply  depressed  as  not  to  break  the  lifeless  monotony  of  the 
^Tavel,  which  is  only  interrupted  by  islands  of  buried  mountains.     The  valleys  are 


Fig.  164. — A  Typical  Portion  of  ihe  Gravel  Desert  northeast  o(  Sistan. 

universally  terraced.  Along  the  Bendan  stream  a  second  terrace  soon  develops 
below  that  at  the  gate.  These  two  continue  to  the  mouth  of  the  valley,  varying  in 
height,  but  very  persistent.  In  many  places  a  third  small  terrace  appears  below 
these,  but  it  is  not  persistent.  All  along  the  west  shore  of  the  lake  the  same  thing 
seems  to  be  true ;  the  main  streams  are  bordered  b}'  two  good  terraces  and  there 
are  traces  of  a  third.     In  the  side  valleys  the  two  lower  terraces  soon  disappear. 

East  of  Bendan  the  gra\'el  desert  suddenly  comes  to  an  end  in  the  steep  bluffs 
which  border  the  lake  on  the  northwest.  At  Bereng,  where  the  road  to  Sistan 
crosses  the  "  hamun "  (swamp)  the  bluffs  are  only  20  or  30  feet  high,  and  stand 
somewhat  back  from  the  water.  Farther  north,  however,  they  approach  the  water 
until  they  are  undercut  by  it  and  fonn  almost  perpendicular  cliffs  100  feet  high. 
Still  farther  north,  near  Kharikha  and  Kuh-i-Chaku,  the  total  height  of  the  bluflfe 
becomes  300  or  400  feet,  although  the)-  stand  farther  from  the  lake  and  are  not 
to-day  being  undercut.  Just  how  far  these  bluffs  e.xtend  is  not  known.  I  followed 
them  for  40  miles  from  Bereng  to  the  northwest  corner  of  the  lake,  and  saw  them 


SISTAN. 


279 


stretching  eastward  along  the  northern  shore  for  at  least  another  25  miles.  On  the 
opposite  side  of  the  lake,  sonth  of  the  delta  of  the  Helnuind,  I  followed  them  again  for 
30  miles,  and  saw  them  extending  indefinitely  farther  in  both  directions.  On  this 
eastern  side  of  the  lake  they  lie  far  from  the  present  shore,  and  ninst  have  been  cut 
when  the  lake  stood  higher  than  now.  So  far  as  I  can  gather  from  the  chance 
remarks  of  travelers  who  have  approached  Sistan  from  \-arioiis  directions,  the  whole 
of  Sistan,  including  the  lake,  the  swamp,  and  the  arable  plain,  is  surrounded  by  these 
wave-cut  bluffs  (Bellew,  p.  263,  264).  Sometimes  the  bluffs  stand  close  to  the  lake 
and  attain  a  height  of  hundreds  of  feet,  while  sometimes,  especially  on  the  east  side, 
they  are  distant  20  or  30  miles  from  the  shore  and  attain  a  height  of  only  about  25 
feet.  Everj'where  the  cliffs  are  composed  of  alternating  pink  silt  and  white  or 
greenish  clays,  capped  with  gravel. 


Fig.  165. — A  Raft  o(  Reeds  poled  by  a  Sayid,  or  "  Fowler,"  on  the  Edge  of  the  Swamp  of  Sistan. 

The  district  surrounded  by  these  lake  bluffs  is  the  real  Sistan.  It  has  a  breadth 
of  about  60  miles  from  east  to  west  and  a  length  of  100  from  north  to  south.  Wlicn 
the  traveler,  arriving  by  the  main  road  from  tlie  northwest,  first  views  Sistan 
from  the  bluffs  back  of  Bereng,  he  is  impressed  1)\-  the  monotonous  uniformity  and 
flatness.  In  front,  if  the  lake  level  be  high,  lies  a  broad  sheet  of  water,  blue 
sometimes,  but  oftener  a  dull  gray  to  match  the  hazy  sk}'.  Here  and  there, 
(figs.  165  and  166)  surrounded  by  the  water,  or  fringing  it,  stretch  miles  upon  miles 
of  "naizar"  or  reedy  swamp,  green  in  summer,  l)ut  in  winter  sadly  brown  or 
blackened  by  fire,  where  the  inhabitants  of  the  swamp  have  burned  the  reeds  in 
order  to  facilitate  the  growth  of  the  young  shoots  on  which  the  cattle  grow  fat. 
Bordering  the  reed-beds,  and  blending  imperceptibly  into  them,  come  the  fertile 
fields,  green,  flat,  and  treeless,  except  where  the  rivers  flood  the  land  in  spring  and 
allow  the  growth  of  graceful  tamarisk  jungles.     In  all  the  view  there  is  nothing  to 


28o 


THE   BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND    SISTAN. 


break  the  unmitigated  flatness  except  the  dark  tabular  mass  of  the  volcanic  mesa  of 
Kuh-i-Klioja,  rising  as  a  black  island  from  among  the  brown  reeds  and  gray  water. 
The  lake  of  Sistan  has  been  a  cause  of  wonder  to  most  of  the  writers  on  the 
region  because  of  the  fluctuations  of  its  level.  Their  wonder  is  perhaps  natural, 
although  the  changes  differ  only  in  degree,  not  in  kind,  from  those  to  which  every 
inclosed  lake  is  subject.  A  single  example  will  illustrate  the  matter.  Early  in  the 
year  1903,  when  the  British  Arbitration  Commission  arrived  at  Sistan,  there  was 
no  lake  at  all,  and  the  very  lowest  hollow  in  the  northwest  corner  was  dr}'.  At  the 
very  time  when  the  commission  arrived,  however,  the  spring  floods  from  Hindu 
Kush  were  beginning  to  come  down  in  great  force.  The  lake  was  rapidly  filled, 
and  within  a  few  weeks  had  assumed  the  extreme  dimensions  shown  on  the  map. 
It  was  at  this  time   larger  than  at  any  period  for  many  years.     Such  sudden  and 


Fig.  166. — An  Arm  of  ihe  Lake  ot  Sistan.     In  the  (oreground  are  beds  of  reeds ;  in  the  background,  ihe 

lacustrine  plain. 

widespread  changes  in  the  distribution  of  land  and  water  have  taken  place  again 
and  again  in  the  past.  They  are  naturally  impressive,  even  though  the}-  are  nothing 
but  the  normal  beha\ior  of  an  inclosed  desert  lake  fed  by  streams  from  lofty  moun- 
tains. The  hollow  of  Sistan  has  been  so  largel>-  filled  with  silt  that  the  bottom  of 
the  lake  is  exceedingly  flat.  Even  at  high  water  the  Sayids  pole  their  reed  rafts 
almost  everj'where.  The  people  say  that  in  the  deepest  places  the  water  is  "  as 
deep  as  a  man  with  upstretched  arms."  Where  I  examined  the  lake  bottom  it  con- 
sisted of  fine  greenish  or  white  clay  which  clung  tenaciously  to  the  poles  of  the 
raftsmen.  Near  the  edges  of  the  lake  and  on  the  plains  round  about,  the  material  is 
the  same  clay  mixed  with  more  or  less  sand.  At  present  fine  sand  seems  to  be 
the  coarsest  material  brought  down  by  the  streams,  and  all  of  this  is  deposited 
immediately  in  the  deltas.  The  main  body  of  the  lake  is  free  from  visible  sediment 
and  the  water  is  clear  and  drinkable. 


SISTAN.  281 

The  drinkable  quality  of  the  water  of  Sistan  is  another  of  the  qualities  which 
many  writers  have  deemed  remarkable.  At  times  of  \'ery  high  water,  perhaps  once 
in  a  dozen  years,  the  lake  possesses  an  outlet  to  the  south  which  will  presently  be 
described.  The  amount  of  water  passing  through  this,  however,  is  a  most  minute 
fraction  of  the  tottd  which  reaches  the  lake,  and  as  it  passes  out  at  the  time  of  high 
water,  when  the  percentage  of  salt  dissolved  in  the  water  is  least,  the  amount  of  salt 
carried  by  it  must  be  ver\'  small  compared  with  the  total  amount  brought  in  by  all 
the  tributaries.  The  amount  thus  brought  to  Sistan  in  a  single  year,  or  in  a  score 
of  years,  ma}-  be  insignificant,  but  it  must  be  large  compared  with  that  carried  by 
streams  in  moist  countries.  Ferrier  (pp.  400  ff.)  describes  the  Dasht-i-Margo,  through 
which  the  Helmund  flows,  as  full  of  salt  pools.  Bellew  (pp.  166,  168,  172,  et  al.) 
found  the  soil  of  the  Helmund  Valley  highly  charged  with  saline  matter.  In  one 
place  close  to  the  river,  a  region  some  10  miles  long  contained  several  thousand 
pits  from  which  the  people  extract  salt  for  commercial  purposes.  On  the  opposite 
side  of  Sistan,  to  the  northwest,  many  of  the  tributarj'  streams  are  strongly  impreg- 
nated with  salt.  The  Shor  Rud  (Salt  River)  of  Durukh  proved  so  saline  that  we 
could  not  drink  it.  The  Gisha  stream  was  drinkable  in  December,  although  our 
guide  said  that  in  summer,  when  the  brook  is  reduced  to  a  few  pools,  not  even 
camels  can  drink  the  water.  In  the  same  way  the  Bendan  stream  and  the  other 
seeping  brooklets  which  I  saw  along  the  northwest  shore  of  the  lake  are  all  bordered 
by  incrustations  of  .salt ;  and  lastly,  the  unconsolidated  strata  of  the  bluffs  and  of 
the  lacustrine  plain  on  all  sides  of  Sistan  are  frequently  white  with  saline  matter. 
Clearly  the  water  of  the  lake  is  not  fresh  by  reason  of  any  lack  of  salt  in  the  sur- 
rounding basin.  The  amount  of  saline  matter  brought  in  each  year  b}-  the  streams 
must  be  large. 

It  is  possible  that  the  freshness  of  the  lake  is  due  to  its  occasional  overflow. 
If  we  suppose  that  a  flood  occurs  ever}'  tenth  year  and  carries  out  of  the  lake  a  tenth 
of  the  water  which  is  that  year  discharged  into  it,  the  nia.ximum  salinity  of  the  water 
would  be  one  hundred  times  that  of  tlie  tributary  rivers.  Under  such  conditions 
the  water  might  be  apparenth'  fresh,  although  as  to  this  we  have  no  data.  It  is 
probable  that  the  amount  of  water  escaping  from  the  lake  is  less  than  a  tenth  ever}' 
tenth  year,  and  the  salinit}-  should  be  two  or  three  times  as  great  as  we  have  esti- 
mated. Another  explanation  of  the  lack  of  salt  is  that  in  comparatively  recent 
times  the  lake  stood  so  much  higher  than  now  that  it  overflowed  permanently,  and 
was  flushed  clean.  Other  lines  of  evidence,  as  we  shall  see,  point  to  this  conclusion. 
It  is  mentioned  here  to  show  that  while  the  freshness  of  the  lake  proves  nothing, 
it  is  strictly  in  accordance  with  the  theory  which  will  be  considered  later. 

THE    DELTA    OF   THE    HELMUND. 

The  most  important  part  of  Sistan  from  a  human  standpoint  is  the  arable  plains 
which  lie  outside  the  central  expanses  of  the  lake  and  swamp.  In  certain  places 
these  represent  a  shore  platform  cut  by  the  waves  when  the  lake  stood  higher. 
Elsewhere  they  represent  a  portion  of  the  general  lake  bottom,  now  laid  bare  by  the 


282 


THE    BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND    SISTAN. 


retreat  of  the  waters.  The  most  important  plains,  however,  are  the  deltas  of  the 
larger  streams  on  the  northern  and  eastern  sides  of  the  "haniiin."  Most  of  these  lie 
in  Afghanistan  and  are  almost  unknown,  but  the  largest,  that  of  the  Helmund,  is 
partly  in  Persia  and  has  been  frequently  described.  To  the  eye  the  delta  seems  to  be 
a  flat  plain,  merging  into  the  reed-beds  on  the  one  hand  and  ending  abruptly  at  the 
foot  of  the  bluffs  on  the  other.  Toward  the  lake  the  soil  is  clayey  like  the  lake 
bottom,  and  is  exceedingly  slippery  and  stick)-  in  wet  weather.  Toward  the  head 
of  the  delta  it  gradually  changes  to  very  fine  sand,  in  which  there  is  a  considerable 
proportion  of  clay.  Everj-where  the  soil  is  fertile  if  properly  irrigated.  Where 
cultivation  is  carried  on,  the  whole  countr}-  is  often  half  under  water.     Deep  and 


Fig.  167. — Canals  in  the  Delta  of  the  Helmund  at  Sistan.     One  canal  crosses  the  other  upon  a  bridge  of  weeds. 

rarel)-  bridged  canals  wander  here  and  there,  and  even  cross  one  another  on  bridges, 
which  are  nothing  but  dried  weeds  packed  into  the  water  and  covered  with  clayey 
soil  (fig.  167).  Grain  and  melons  grow  luxuriantly,  but  other  crops  are  rare  and 
fruit  can  not  be  raised  because  of  the  wind.  At  present  large  tracts  are  not  under 
cultivation  and  are  covered  with  a  spiny  growth  of  camel  thorn  bearing  purple-pink 
flowers,  or  with  a  dense  growth  of  tall  tamarisks  forming  an  almost  impenetrable 
jungle  20  feet  high,  the  home  of  innumerable  wild  boars  and  jackals.  In  still 
other  places,  as  at  Zahidan,  the  delta  is  being  invaded  and  buried  by  sand.  At  first 
sight  there  appears  to  be  no  special  reason  win-  certain  areas  should  be  cultivated, 
others  should  be  left  to  camel  thorn,  still  others  should  be  covered  with  tamarisks, 
while  the  most  unfortunate  parts  are  being  destroyed  by  sand.     The  explanation  is 


SISTAN.  283 

easily  found,  however.  The  delta  of  the  Helmund,  like  every  other  delta,  not  only 
slopes  from  apex  to  front,  but  consists  of  a  number  of  broad,  almost  imperceptible 
ridges  separated  by  hollows  equally  broad.  The  ridges  indicate  tlie  location  of  the 
main  stream  in  former  times  when  it  built  up  the  inner  edge  of  its  flood-plain  and 
left  slight  depressions  on  either  side.  To-day  the  ridges  are  largely  abandoned  to 
the  encroaching  sand,  although  in  the  not  far  distant  past  they  were  the  most 
populous  parts  of  the  country.  Their  slight  elevation  of  5  or  10  feet  adds  to  the 
difficulty  of  bringing  water  to  them,  although  this  is  of  relatively  slight  importance. 
The  main  reason  for  abandoning  them  seems  to  be  that  they  He  above  the  level 
where  perennial  underground  water  can  be  reached  by  the  roots  of  the  crops. 
Therefore  a  greater  amount  of  water  is  required  for  irrigation,  and  a  drought  does 
nuicli  more  damage  than  in  the  regions  a  few  feet  lower.  In  proof  of  this  it  is  only 
necessar}'  to  examine  the  distribution  of  vegetation.  The  ridges  and  the  upper 
parts  are  for  the  most  part,  though  by  no  means  uni\ersally,  abandoned  to  the 
prickly  camel  thorn  where  they  are  not  being  o\er\vhelraed  by  sand.  The  troughs, 
on  the  other  hand,  are  occupied  by  the  tamarisk  jungle  wherever  they  are  liable  to 
inundation,  and  are  tliickh'  studded  with  villages.  The  larger  part  of  the  cultivated 
land,  however,  lies  in  the  low,  flat  regions  along  the  borders  of  the  delta,  where  the 
level  of  permanent  underground  water  is  but  a  few  feet  below  the  surface  and  can  be 
easily  reached  by  the  crops.  Lovett,  {b,  p.  146)  cites  a  good  example  of  the  rapidity 
with  which  changes  in  cultivation  take  place  in  response  to  changes  in  the  water 
level,  although  he  himself  ascribes  the  change  to  an  improvement  in  the  government 
and  a  temporary'  sense  of  greater  security.  Arriving  in  Sistan  in  1872,  at  the 
end  of  a  six  years'  drought,  during  which  the  lake  had  practically  disappeared,  he 
found  that  the  countrj-  around  Kuh-i-Khoja  was  dr^-  and  was  covered  in  part  with 
tamarisks  and  in  part  with  fields,  although  Connolly  in  1842  described  it  as  under 
water.  "Now,  however,"  says  Lovett,  "cultivation  has  advanced  to  within  two 
miles  or  so  of  the  island  (Kuh-i-Khoja) ;  in  fact,  has  been  developed  pari  passu  with 
the  retreat  of  the  waters  which  has  been  assigned  as  the  cause."  To-day  the 
villagers  endeavor  to  plant  their  fields  as  close  to  the  lake  as  possible.  In  February' 
I  saw  men  ploughing  in  deep  mud  on  the  very  edge  of  the  water,  and  rode  across 
old  fields  which  went  under  the  lake  and  had  e\identh-  been  CTilti\'ated  a  few  years 
before  during  some  drier  season.  At  present,  ruins,  camel  thorn,  and  sand  occupy 
the  higher  portions  of  the  delta,  while  villages,  fields,  and  tamarisks  occupy  the  lower 
portions.  Strangely  enough,  the  latter  contain  no  ruins  of  any  considerable  age, 
although  if  conditions  in  the  past  were  the  same  as  to-day  these  must  have  been  the 
most  desirable  parts  of  the  country.  The  only  adequate  explanation  of  this  phenom- 
enon seems  to  be  that  the  lake  stood  at  a  higher  level  during  a  past  not  far  remote. 

THE   SHILA    AND    THE    GOD-I-ZIRRAH. 

In  times  of  heavy  flood  the  lake  of  Sistan  overflows  and  sends  a  stream  of  water 
down  the  Shila  40  miles  to  the  south  and  then  50  to  the  .southeast,  to  the  God-i- 
Zirrah.  The  Shila,  where  Sykes  (</,  p.  364)  crossed  it  on  the  road  from  Kinnan, 
is  "a  watercourse  350  yards  wide,  with  banks  50  feet  high."     It  lies  in  a  "great 


284  THE    BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND   SISTAN. 

trough — ^at  least  100  miles  in  length  by  30  in  width — which  appears  to  have  received 
either  the  whole  of  the  present  water-supply  [of  Sistan]  or  the  overflow  of  the  old 
and  greater  flood ;  otherwise  it  is  impossible  to  account  for  its  vast  area.  The  Shila 
runs  ill  a  briny  stream  when  there  is  a  large  accession  to  the  lake."  Yate,  writing 
of  a  journey  made  about  1894,  speaks  of  the  Shila  (p.  98)  as  being  from  150  to  200 
yards  wide,  with  precipitous  banks  30  to  40  feet  high,  where  he  first  .saw  it.  There 
was  no  sign  of  a  running  stream,  but  merely  pools  of  bitterly  salt  water.  Thirty 
miles  farther  downstream  he  found  (a,  p.  99)  the  Shila  "  150  yards  in  width,  with 
sloping  banks  some  20  feet  high  and  full  of  sand,  there  having  been  no  flood-waters 
down  for  the  last  five  years."  Below  this  point  fp.  102)  the  banks  of  the  Shila 
gradually  decrease  in  height  and  finally  die  out  on  approaching  the  God-i-Zirrah. 
From  these  two  descriptions  the  outlet  appears  to  be  through  a  broad,  deep  channel, 
which  could  only  be  cut  by  a  strong,  vigorous  stream  far  different  from  the  trickling 
overfow  of  the  rare  floods  which  now  traverse  it.  Smith,  however  (a,  p.  254), 
describes  the  Shila  in  very  different  terms  as  "a  low,  shallow  sort  of  ditch  or  canal, 
about  thirty  yards  wide,  and  quite  dry."  As  he  crossed  the  channel  near  the  places 
seen  by  Sykes  and  Yate,  there  .seems  to.  be  no  way  to  reconcile  the  opposing 
statements  e.xcept  by  supposing  that  the  outlet,  like  the  tributaries,  is  terraced,  and 
preserves  the  record  of  two  periods  of  overflow  corresponding  to  the  two  elevated 
shorelines  which  will  presently  be  described. 

The  lowest  portion  of  the  basin  of  Sistan  and  the  final  resting-place  of  the 
waters  which  escape  via  the  Shila  is  the  God-i-Zirrah,  or  Hollow  of  Zirrah.  McMahon 
(a,  p.  19)  describes  it  as  "a  large  lake  of  clear,  deep-blue  water,  some  25  miles  long 
and  5  miles  wide,  standing  in  the  midst  of  a  wide  margin  of  solid  salt.  It  used  to 
be  fed  by  flood-water  from  the  Hehnund,  but  it  now  seldom  receives  any  replenish- 
ment. The  last  time  it  received  any  water  from  the  Hehnund  is,  .so  far  as  I  can 
ascertain,  as  long  ago  as  1880,  i.e.,  .seventeen  years  ago.  [Yate,  p.  105,  says  1885.] 
All  the  drainage  which,  in  tlie  natural  course  of  events,  should  flow  into  it  from  the 
mountain  ranges  south  of  it  is  intercepted  and  swallowed  up  by  the  wide  barriers  of 
sand  lying  in  the  way  and  thus  never  reaches  it.  Its  water  is  now  so  salt  that  even 
water-fowl  avoid  it." 

A  glance  at  the  map  shows  that  the  Shila  and  the  God-i-Zirrah  form  an  arc 
parallel  to  the  arc  of  the  Hehnund  and  sloping  in  the  opjiosite  direction.  In  ancient 
times,  according  to  Ishtakhri,  who  wrote  in  the  tenth  centur)^  (quoted  by  Sykes, 
rt,  p.  365),  the  Hehnund  was  diverted  so  as  to  flow  across  the  neck  between  the  two 
arcs  and  discharged  directly  into  the  Shila.  The  lake  of  Zirrah  was  100  miles 
long  and  covered  an  area  ten  times  as  great  as  to-day.  It  was  filled  to  overflowing, 
apparently,  and  the  direction  of  the  Shila  was  reversed,  for  the  people  of  Sistan 
have  a  legend  that  in  former  times  the  supply  of  the  Hamun-i-.Sistan  entered  at  the 
southern  end  of  the  lake  instead  of  the  northern.  Part  of  the  water  of  the  Hehnund, 
however,  still  flowed  to  Sistan  along  the  present  course  and  watered  the  numerous 
villages  the  ruins  of  which  crowd  the  upper  part  of  the  Hehnund  delta.  In  course 
of  time  this  main  channel  regained  all  the  water,  perhaps,  as  McMahon  (a,  p.  20) 
suggests,  because  the  Hehnund  deepened  its  bed  below  the  mouth  of  the  canal  which 
leads  to  the  Shila.     To-day  that  canal  still  exists,  and  until  a  hundred  years  ago 


PLATE  5. 


SECTION  A. 


*  <■  ♦ 


<l)'225fecl-Uv.. 
(2)  .40  "  -Sccfi. 
O)    15  ■■  -L.Y. 


M)    20  • 


(5)    12  • 


(6)    15  ■ 


<7)     10  • 


-Scoria 

Pink  and  brick 
red  enxA-hed- 
dcd  i«nd,  clay 
and  Gdc  crav- 
el.vviih  bloclu 
C  of  Uva 
-Coarae  giavcl, 
wilh  welt- 
rounded  lime- 
itone   cobbirs 

-Pink  clay 


(8) 

12" 

— Ctwq  cUy 

<9) 

<I0) 

1  •• 

4  • 

—  Gray  »od  Bfid 

pit 
— Pink  ind  brown 

(II) 
(12) 

2  • 
20 

—Cray  und  and 
•    -Pink  cUy 

(13) 

14 

— Oeen  clay 

(14) 
(15) 
(16) 

1  • 
5- 
6  • 

•  -YrJIowday 

•  -Pi»kd.y 

— Coar«      grawj 
and  c/ou  bed- 
ded land 

(i;)    30"  -Pink  da. 


(18)  4  "   -Creenday 

(19)  8  "    -Pint  clay 

(20)  4  "   -Greoi  clay 


(21)  22  "   —Pink  day,  wnb 

ditcontirujous 
bands  of  land 

(22)  5  "   -Crccn  clay 

(23)  2"-Ydlnwclay 

(24)  3  "   -PorflecUy 


(25)    30  " 


—pink  and  btown 
clay  sill,  with 
sfavel  band* 


(26)     to  "  -Cr«n  clay 


SECTION  I. 


SECTION -J. 


(I) 
(2)  20 


>    feel— A  1 1  c  r  n  ■  t  e 
gravel  and  lUt 


(3)    7 
14)    5 


(5)  17 


—  GrecB  day 

-  Pink  cby 


— Crten  clay 


^Yellow  (and 
— Brovan       landy 
clay 


imwA 


—Green  clay 

— Yeilow  clay 
—  Purple  clay 
-Pink  dav 
-Green  cUy 


-Pink     iSi 
Mod 


sy^ig?^:^ 


Gravel 
"  -Pink  clay 

.  — Fine  srey  taod 
[[  -Pink  day 
— Pinkcuid 
—Pink  clay,  witb 
«   Kttlc    lime- 
■tone  ffypMUD 
near  baic 
— Fine  tand    (di»- 
conlinuom) 
..  -Pink  day 
^^  —Fine  brown  (and 
,,  — Cypnun 

— Pmk  day.  wilh 
la  yen  of  land 
and       itrcan> 
^^         channel) 
"— Cfceo  day 

Banded  gteen  clay 
—Fine   land    and 
BTeen  day 
4     "  -Pink  clay 


il)  12  feei-Cr.vel 


'2)    4    ••  -Pinkcb, 
(3)    4 
'      1 


^4 


(5)    2 
U)   10 

U)   13 


—  Green  clay 
-While  (Uy 
— YeDow  clay 
-Pink  cUy 


(9)     J4    • 

( 10)  3^i 


-  Green  clay 


-Pink  clay,  with 
jishtfT  tandy 
bandi 


-YrDow  .lay 
—  Hard  pint  clay, 
undy 


ftCTWH 


1*4  («  » ■■  - 


^^    (7)    10"   -P^^t 


?^!! 


^^ 


a)  i»" 


-  -F-acUi 


(HI     i--OM^ 

an   J'  -p-t*""" 


■^    I!)  20  "  -Pal    A 


(i)    t  "  -D«»  Bin 


^^^ 


gg^^;    CI)    i  "  -Canluduad 
S  •■  -Pu.k  A 
4  "  -Cmntlir 


(ID)  30  "  -P«l   d>,    I 

<IIJ  J  ■'  -C««d.r 
(II)  tS  -'  -Pi.ld4. 
(I»)   6  "  -Cnati.T 

CI41  »  ■■  -Pui^Ai 


^M. 


W^^ 


(1)  lOObH-Oml 


(!)     10  "  -WliiiKurirdi 


t»d.T 


(5)  10 

(6)  to  ' 


*^^ 


U)    IS" 

in  to  ■■ 


It)     40  "   -CIlT    toil    - 


(17)      a  ■■  -C«tBd., 


(IB]    U  -'  -Bro^udcnk 


(20)      »"-Ydlnrclw 


1U) 

1} 

-Pbkdu 

(23) 

t 

(;*) 

(!i) 
U6> 
(27) 

3 

^S^' 


i^a 


^^ 


Z^  Ml  IJ    ■■  -(PbI.* 


IJJ  »    "  -  Cn»I 


111)       3  ■ 

'Ml  r- 


.1,.  u,^ 


(  Bindiru 
-FulcUf 


i»  27    ■■  -Ptafc  a 


[«)  35    "  -'^'"^£3* 


!^-;'V 


-F«  n-"l 


2*1     )S  "  -Pull  tUT.  p< 


IIS)      2---Ffl.rcU><'wd 


IJfl)     4"  -Fiw   tm-n 
291       «■■  -Cirw^," 


I)})  ]  "  -Puk  Uiy  ud>e>< 

(3*)  *  ■■  -OmdcI-. 

OS)  10"  -PoltW 

(361  I     '    -Faiud 

1)7)  12"  -Pmld., 

136)  —  "  — Bud  ol  (h  uhI 

139)  S  ■■    -<>«  <k» 

2."  -PunJttlir 


171  is    ■'  -(jiTil 


.  a  ■■  -Pakck, 

I    a    "  -Criat}n 


12)  20    "  -Rukdi 


^ 


2)  JO    "  -Rftt    dn   Ji 


(M)    20  "  -P-fc  «!•» 


IM)     IS  "  -&uoh  ti"k  " 
«9)       I   '■   -Cr.«1 
(SO)      I  "  -B.«™-Bd 


B?S^ 


141  II    "  -PUih 
IS)  tB   "  -&«.. 


H    2    "  -VJUw     wdt 
II  20    "  -PU   cbr  >l<. 


[II  e  I, 

12)  B  «  -CMdu 
L  141  I  "  -Y.l»(lw 
(»)24    "-Pkidw 


(A)  10    "   -d™  dw 

(7)  I  ::  z?^;^''^; 


Ill)   6    '-  -Cnaib)! 
112}    8    "  -PUiUf 


BECTtON  I 


13)  14 

1*1  54 

-W»-.aId» 

IS)  13 

-Ci.nl 

■6)    3 

-S.HJwJn.«l 

1!)  12 

■  -Pi^d„A 

(IS)  e 

121)  3S 

■-o~.     d.,, 

^'(101    2    •■  -Ydt-d.. 
-ini     )    --   -Cna.t, 


SECTION  K. 


^^ 


^^^Pl  121  e  ~-Puia>T 

131  10   "  -Fw  Md  I 


(4)    f,    "-Pkldtr 

131   10     "-Far   lud   tad 


(6)   12     "-Pa-lil., 


17)  16    "-CiMdi 


(I)  4ttlOI>«-CBRl 


(S)  10    --Ptatd'r 


II  of  Lake  Drpoiiti  Etam  Varioui  Localion*  along  ihc  Notlhweslcrn  Shore  ol  ihc  Lake  ol  SuUn. 


o 


THE   QUATERNARY    ERA    IN    SISTAN.  285 

carried  water  to  the  town  of  Haiizdar.  Even  now  extreme  floods  of  the  Helmund  rise 
high  enough  to  trickle  into  it  on  rare  occasions.  All  along  the  Shila  and  at  the  head 
of  the  God-i-Zirrah  are  abundant  ruins,  all  of  which  seem  to  date  from  Mohammedan 
times.  It  is  evident  that  the  lakes  of  Sistan  and  Zirrah  and  the  rivers  of  Helmund 
and  Shila  have  undergone  a  series  of  changes  intimately  associated  with  the  human 
historj'  of  the  region.  These  changes  seem  to  be  explicable  only  on  the  theory'  that 
the  climate  of  Eastern  Persia  has  been  growing  gradually  drier  during  historical 
times.  Before  considering  this  question  further  we  will  examine  certain  phenomena 
which  seem  to  indicate  extensive  climatic  changes  in  earlier  times.  Having  examined 
these,  we  shall  be  in  a  position  to  judge  whether  there  is  an  adequate  basis  for  the 
working  hypothesis  that  the  last  pulsations  of  the  series  of  climatic  changes  known 
as  the  glacial  period  are  still  in  progress. 

THE  QUATERNARY  ERA  IN  SISTAN. 
THE   DEPOSITS   OF   THE   LAKE   OF   SISTAN. 

In  the  preceding  pages  the  conclusion  has  been  reached  that  while  the  more 
northern  countries  of  the  world  were  passing  through  a  glacial  period,  Persia  was 
passing  through  a  fluvial  period  due  to  the  same  causes  and  characterized  by  a  similar 
series  of  climatic  oscillations.  The  record  of  the  dry  and  wet  or  wann  and  cold 
epochs  composing  this  fluvial  period  seems  to  be  preserved  in  a  series  of  terraces, 
lacustrine  and  fluviatile,  which  occur  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  These  terraces 
are  unsatisfactory,  because  the  record  which  they  preser\'e  is  incomplete,  and  a  single, 
strong,  terrace-making  impulse  may  destroy  the  record  of  all  that  have  gone  before. 
The  best  possible  record  would  be  one  preserv^ed  in  the  bottom  of  a  basin  which 
contained  a  lake  during  pluvial  epochs,  but  was  drj'  or  contained  merely  a  playa 
during  interpluvial  epochs.  Such  basins  abound  in  Persia,  but  the  bottoms  of  most 
of  them  are  not  exposed  for  study.  In  Sistan,  however,  several  volcanoes  broke  out 
during  the  latter  part  of  the  fluvial  period,  and  parts  of  the  lake  bottom  were  warped 
upward  to  a  maximum  height  of  over  600  feet  abo\'e  the  present  lake  level.  These 
have  since  been  undercut  by  the  waves  and  fonn  the  bluffs  which  surround  the  lake. 
A  proper  interpretation  of  the  sections  exposed  will  disclose  the  history-  of  the  lake 
far  back  toward  the  beginning  of  the  Quaternary  era. 

From  a  scenic  point  of  view  the  most  notable  feature  in  Sistan  is  the  lava- 
capped  mesa  of  Kuh-i-Klioja  (Mountain  of  the  Teacher).  P'rom  whatever  direction 
one  approaches  Sistan  he  sees  a  flat-topped  hill,  low  and  black,  and  nearly  a  mile  in 
diameter.  From  the  encircling  reeds  and  water,  steep  slopes  of  dark  talus  mantling 
red  clay  rise  200  feet  to  the  base  of  cliflTs  of  basaltic  lava,  over  200  feet  high.  The 
uneven  upper  surface  of  the  lava  is  covered  with  many-chambered  tombs,  or  is 
roughened  with  great  pits,  dug  as  reserv^oirs  perhaps,  or  for  some  other  unknown 
purpose.  On  the  edges  the  lava  is  being  undennincd  by  the  retreat  of  soft  underly- 
ing clays,  and  huge  blocks  are  continually  falling  off,  thus  preser\-ing  the  steepness 
of  the  cliffs  and  hiding  the  strata  below.  Enough  of  the  latter  are  seen  to  show 
that  they  are  for  the  most  ])art  red,  with  some  bands  of  green,  and  belong  to  the 
lacustrine  series  so  well  exposed  elsewhere.     At  its  contact  with   the  lava  the  clay 


286  THE    KASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA    AND   SISTAN. 

is  broken  into  a  breccia,  and  is  baked,  so  that  the  upper  portions  resemble  a  mass 
of  finely  broken  bricks  cemented  with  brick  dust.  Kuh-i-Khoja  is  the  remnant  of  a 
volcano  (see  fig.  i68)  which  broke  out  under  the  lake,  and  in  its  efforts  to  find  exit 
elevated  the  sediments  of  the  lake  bottom  into  a  dome,  which  it  covered  with  lava. 
Around  the  island  thus  formed  the  waves  at  once  set  to  work,  and  have  now  under- 
mined and  carried  away  all  the  dome  except  the  central  mass.  Soon  all  the  clays 
will  be  removed  and  merely  a  volcanic  neck  will  remain. 

Similar  volcanic  outbursts  are  described  by  \'redenburg  as  having  taken  place 
in  other  parts  of  Sistan  and  throughout  Baluchistan.  Smith  (a,  p.  315)  describes 
"a  flat-topped,  irregularly-shaped  hill,  called  Kuh-i-Kuchah,  somewhat  smaller 
than  but  resembling  the  Kuh-i-Khoja."  It  lies  between  the  Farah  and  Harud 
rivers,  8  miles  west-northwest  of  the  ruins  of  Peshawaran.  (See  jjlate  6,  opposite 
p.  288.)  This  hill  and  others  like  it  will  doubtless  repay  close  study  when  it  shall 
be  possil)le  to  travel  freely  in  Afghanistan. 

Meanwhile  there  is  one  mountain,  the  Kuh-i-Chaku,  on  the  northwestern  shore 
of  the  Hamun-i-Sistan,  which  can  be  studied.  It  lies  in  the  desert  close  to  the 
Afghan  border  and  is  difficult  of  access,  but  it  presents  such  wonderful  sections  that 

^^iniiiiiii^»iiiii|^jljjjjl__^^^^^^  Lake  level 


Fig.  168. — Ideal  cross-section  of  the  Mesa  of  Kuh-i-Khoja.     Heavily  shaded  portions  =  lava;  lightly  shaded 
portions  =  pink  sill ;  unshaded  portions  ^  green  clay. 

it  deserves  months  of  study  rather  than  the  short  week  which  I  was  able  to  give 
to  it  and  to  the  surrounding  countr)'.  The  mountain  of  Kuh-i-Chaku  is  a  mesa 
like  Kuh-i-Khoja,  although  nuich  larger.  The  clays  reach  a  thickness  of  650  feet, 
and  the  lava  cap  400.  The  broad  top  of  the  mesa  presents  a  relief  of  from  100  to 
200  feet,  and  two  breached  craters  inclosing  hills  of  scoria  can  be  made  out.  The 
upper  layers  of  clay  are  baked,  as  at  Kuh-i-Khoja,  and  most  of  the  lower  slopes  are 
covered  with  talus,  so  that  good  sections  are  difficult  to  obtain  directly  on  the  side 
of  the  mountain.  At  the  time  of  the  volcanic  eruptions  which  produced  the 
mountain,  however,  the  whole  region  was  uplifted.  South  of  Kuh-i-Chaku  a 
slightly  rolling  monocline  of  uplifted  clays  descends  gently  for  30  or  40  miles  to 
Bereng,  and  has  been  dissected  by  the  waves  to  form  the  bluffs  which  have  been 
described.  Fine  sections  are  exposed  between  Kuh-i-Chaku  and  Kharikha,  where 
the  bluffs  reach  a  height  of  over  400  feet. 

LAKE   DEPOSITS   VERSUS   PLAVA   DEPOSITS. 

The  accompanying  diagram  (plate  5)  illustrates  sections  of  lake  deposits  from 
various  locations  along  the  northwestern  shore  of  the  lake  in  the  region  of  the  Kuh-i- 
Chaku  uplift,  and  from  the  southeastern  bluffs  along  the  edge  of  the  Helmund  delta 
in  the  district  affected  by  the  Kuh-i-Khoja  uplift.  The  sections  are  arranged  according 
to  location.  The  position  of  each  is  marked  on  the  map  of  Sistan  by  the  appropriate 
letter,  A  being  in  the  northwest  comer,  close  to  Kuh-i-Chaku.     With  the  possible 


THE    QUATERNARY    ERA    IN    SISTAN.  287 

exception  of  two  on  the  Hehnund  River,  each  section  contains  three  distinct  parts. 
At  the  top,  lying  imconforniably  on  the  other  strata,  are  beds  of  orravel  from  one 
to  a  hundred  or  more  feet  thick.  Below  these  are  numerous  alternations  between 
thick  pinkish  strata  and  thinner  strata  of  a  greenish  or  whitish  color. 

The  pink  beds  consist  largely  of  clays  and  ver}-  fine  silts,  but  often  pass  into 
layers  of  fine  brown  sand.  Viewed  as  a  whole,  the  pink  laj'ers  are  \ery  continuous, 
and  preserve  the  same  character  for  mile  after  mile.  In  detail,  however,  they  vary 
considerably,  even  in  short  distances.  For  instance,  a  layer  of  clay  is  often  inter- 
rupted by  a  band  of  fine  sand  which  continues  a  few  hundred  feet  and  then  dies 
out.  More  rarely  a  la\-er  of  grit  or  gravel  occurs  and,  rarest  of  all,  a  distinct  fossil 
stream-bed  of  gravel  is  exposed.  Again,  in  certain  places  slight  unconformities  are 
discernible,  as  though  a  brief  period  of  erosion  had  taken  place  between  the  deposi- 
tion of  one  layer  and  the  next.  Among  the  more  sand)-  lajers  there  are  further 
evidences  of  exposure  to  the  air.  In  one  place,  for  instance,  the  sand  shows  ripple- 
marks,  worm-casts,  and  rain-drop  prints.  Lastly,  the  layers  of  this  formation  are 
ever^'where  of  a  reddish  tint,  varying  from  pink  to  brown.  The  only  exception  is 
found  in  some  of  the  sandier,  more  quartzose  layers,  which  are  gray  for  a  few  inches. 
Everywhere  the  materials  seem  to  have  been  exposed  to  oxidization  for  a  considerable 
period.  They  bear  the  marks  of  having  been  deposited  subaerially  by  widely 
spreading  floods  or  in  temporary  playas. 

The  white  or,  more  exactly,  the  greenish  clays,  on  the  other  hand,  present  a 
ver>'  different  appearance.  On  the  edges  they  are  mixed  with  fine  sand  or  are  more 
or  less  banded.  Occasional!)'  a  purple  layer  occurs,  or  a  band  of  yellow  clay,  in 
which  are  what  appear  to  be  fossil  leaves  and  reeds.  The  main  mass  of  each  stratum, 
however,  consists  of  solid,  unbroken  layers  of  pure  clay,  unifonn  in  texture  and 
color,  and  showing  none  of  the  slight  variations  which  characterize  the  pink  beds. 
The  color  indicates  that  the  materials  were  brought  rapidly  from  their  place  of 
origin  in  the  mountains  and  were  not  long  exposed  to  o.xidization  on  the  way.  The 
green  strata  as  a  whole  show  no  sign  of  subaerial  origin,  and  appear  to  be  t)pically 
lacustrine. 

The  pink  beds  and  the  green  beds  differ  from  one  another  chiefly  in  manner  of 
deposition.  The  material  of  the  clayey  portions  of  the  pink  is  identical  witli  the 
green,  except  that  it  is  more  weathered,  and  it  is  reasonably  certain  that  they  were 
deri\ed  from  the  same  source.  The  discontinuous,  highly- weathered  pink  layers, 
however,  appear  to  have  been  deposited  subaerially  after  long  exposure  to  the  atmos- 
phere, while  the  unifonn,  slightl)--weathered  green  layers  appear  to  have  been 
deposited  subaqueously  after  a  relatively  short  exposure  to  the  atmosphere.  Such 
alternations  of  subaerial  and  subaqueous  conditions  indicate  that  the  lake  of  Sistan 
has  been  subjected  to  changes  whereb)-  a  portion  of  its  bed  has  been  altematel)- 
exposed  as  dr)'  land  and  submerged  under  water.  The  duration  of  each  epoch  of 
submergence  or  exposure  must  hav-e  been  considerable,  for  the  accumulation  of  from 
5  to  20  feet  of  the  finest  clay,  or  of  a  greater  thickness  of  a  clayey  silt  and  sand,  is 
a  slow  process  mea.sured  in  our  small  unit  of  years.  This  is  especially  true  if  in 
former  times  deposition  was  as  slow  as  at  present.     Mr.  Tate  told  me  that  during 


288  THE    BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND    SISTAN. 

the  year  of  his  stay  in  Sistan  the  lake  was  always  clear  and  deposition  proceeded 
verj'  slowly.  Even  during  the  great  flood  of  1903  the  water  was  muddy  only  off 
the  river  mouths,  although  everywhere  covered  with  the  wreckage  of  reeds  and 
tamarisks.  The  transition  from  sul^niergence  to  exposure  must  also  have  been 
comparati\ely  slow,  for  the  change  from  pink  to  green  deposits  is  frequently  gradual, 
although  always  distinct.  The  .sandy  layers  mixed  with  the  upper  and  lower 
portions  of  the  lacustrine  clay  seem  to  indicate  shore  conditions,  and  the  layers  of 
purple  and  yellow  clay,  with  the  included  fossil  plants,  probably  point  to  the  existence 
of  marshes  during  the  disappearance  of  the  lakes.  In  brief,  an  examination  of  the 
sections  exposed  in  the  bluffs  of  Sistan  suggests  that  in  \-ery  recent  geological  times 
the  basin  of  Sistan  has  been  subjected  to  a  long  series  of  slow  and  gradual  changes 
by  which  large  portions  of  the  floor  of  the  basin  became  alternately  areas  of  sub- 
aerial  and  of  lacustrine  deposition.  In  other  words,  the  predecessor  of  the  present 
lake  of  Sistan  has  either  again  and  again  passed  from  conditions  of  extreme  expan- 
sion to  those  of  great  diminution  or  else  has  repeatedly  and  systematically  shifted 
its  position. 

THE   CAUSE   OF   THE   ALTERNATIONS    OF    THE    SISTAN    STRATA. 

When  we  attempt  to  explain  these  variations  in  the  lake,  four  plausible  theories 
present  themselves,  (a)  The  lake  may  have  had  an  outlet  which  was  repeatedly 
dammed  by  volcanic  eruptions  or  otherwise,  and  as  frequenth'  swept  clear.  {/>)  Some 
large  tributary  may  have  been  diverted  alternately  to  and  from  the  lake,  first  filling 
it  and  then  leaving  it  diminished,  (c)  The  basin  of  Sistan  niaj-  ha\e  been  sub- 
jected to  rhythmic  earth-movements  by  which  the  lake  was  poured  alternately  from 
one  side  to  the  other,  (d)  The  fluvial  period  may  have  consisted  of  a  greater 
number  of  epochs  than  has  been  supposed,  and  each  epoch  may  have  caused  an 
expansion  of  the  lake. 

(a)  Outlet  Theory. — If  the  lake  had  an  outlet  as  recently  as  the  time  of  deposition 
of  the  clays,  traces  of  it  must  still  remain.  The  Shila  can  not  be  considered  in  this 
connection,  because  the  Hamun-i-vSistan  and  the  God-i-Zirrah  are  on  nearly  the  same 
level  and  form  parts  of  a  single  lake  so  far  as  the  present  problem  is  concerned. 
The  entire  border  of  the  basin  of  Sistan  has  not  been  explored,  but  it  is  certain  that 
even  the  lower  passes  stand  at  least  1,500  or  2,000  feet  above  the  lake  of  Sistan. 
Any  outlet  which  may  have  existed  in  fonner  geological  times  must  have  ceased  to 
do  duty  ages  before  the  formation  of  the  modern  clays  which  now  concern  us. 

{b)  Diversion  Theory. — In  the  case  of  the  lakes  of  Sistan  and  Zirrah  we  have 
seen  that  the  diversion  of  the  Helmund  caused  great  changes  in  the  area  subject  to 
inundation.  If  a  similar  change  could  have  taken  place  repeatedh-  in  earlier  times 
it  might  have  caused  the  deposition  of  alternating  lacustrine  and  subaerial  strata. 
The  diversion,  if  such  there  was,  must  have  taken  place  much  nearer  the  mountains. 
This  theory  can  not  be  absolutely  excluded,  because  our  knowledge  of  tlie  ri\ers  in 
Afghanistan  is  exceedingly  limited.  The  extreme  improbability  that  a  river  .should 
be  diverted  back  and  forth  eight  or  ten  times  at  regular  inter\als  is  a  strong  a  priori 
argument  against  it.  Moreover,  if  such  diversions  did  take  place,  it  is  still  necessary 
to  explain  win-.  Such  behavior  on  the  part  of  a  ri\-er  could  only  be  due  to  some 
systematic  cause,  such  as  repeated  warping  of  the  crust  or  climatic  changes. 


PLATE  6. 


MAP   OF 

SI  STAN 


To  the 
•S/ula, 


I     ■:'-"" 


^ //tZUZ<£t2/' 


KalaiFatK 


MAP  OF  SISTAN. 


THE   QUATERNARY   ERA    IN    SISTAN.  289 

(c)  Rhythmic  Warping  Theory. — The  third  possible  explanation  of  the  strati- 
graphic  series  at  Sistan  is  awarping  of  the  crust,  whereby  the  lake  was  again  and  again 
poured  from  one  side  of  the  basin  to  the  other  or,  what  amounts  to  the  same  thing, 
the  streams  were  deflected  and  a  lake  accumulated  first  on  one  side  and  then  on  the 
other.  This  theory  possesses  one  inherent  though  not  insunnountable  difficulty.  It 
demands  a  fonn  of  warping  of  which  we  have  no  proved  examples  elsewhere,  and 
which  is  radically  different  from  that  which  has  taken  place  in  neighboring  basins 
and  in  the  world  at  large.  The  progress  of  geolog}-  has  led  to  two  conclusions  which 
are  not  in  harmony  with  the  theory  of  warping  as  applied  to  Sistan.  In  the  first  place, 
earth-movements  are  characterized  b}-  irregularity  rather  than  regularit}-.  They 
occur  spasmodically,  now  a  great  movement,  now  a  minor  one  ;  now  a  short  interv^al 
of  rest,  now  a  long  interval.  The  phenomena  of  Sistan  demand  an  opposite  char- 
acter, approximately  equal  movements  occurring  at  approximately  equal  intervals. 
In  the  second  place,  earth-movements  are  cumulative ;  that  is,  the  main  changes  of 
a  given  period  consist  of  repeated  impulses  in  the  same  direction.  For  instance,  if 
the  world  as  a  whole  be  taken  as  an  example,  the  old  idea  that  the  oceans  have 
become  continents  and  the  continents  oceans  is  abandoned.  Almost  eversone  now 
believes  that  the  continents  and  oceans  were  differentiated  far  back  in  early  eras, 
and  that  in  spite  of  temporary'  depressions  the  continents  have  steadily  increased  in 
height  and  area  and  the  seas  have  grown  deeper.  The  same  holds  true  in  smaller  areas. 
For  example,  in  the  faulted  basin  region  of  the  western  United  vStates,  it  has  been 
shown  by  Gilbert,  Russell,  Davis,  and  others  that  there  has  been  continued  move- 
ment along  the  same  fault  lines,  and  during  a  given  epoch  that  movement  has  been 
unifonnly  in  one  direction.  If  there  have  been  reversals,  they  have  only  occurred 
after  a  long  lapse  of  time,  during  which  the  internal  forces  suffered  an  entire  read- 
justment. Or  lastly,  to  take  an  example  close  to  Sistan,  the  basins  of  Eastern  Persia, 
as  has  been  shown  above,  ha\-e  gradually  grown  smaller  through  Tertiarj-  and 
perha])s  Quateniarj'  times,  by  the  progressive  warping  and  elevation  of  the  strata 
along  their  edges.  In  not  a  single  instance  has  evidence  been  found  to  show  that 
a  basin  has  alternately  grown  smaller  and  then  larger.  To  put  it  briefly,  the  move- 
ments have  been  cumulati\e,  not  undulatory.  If  the  red  and  green  clays  of  Sistan, 
however,  are  to  be  explained  by  movements  of  the  crust,  those  movements  nuist 
have  been  preeminently  undulatory — rhythmic  pulsations  as  regular  almost  as  the 
beating  of  the  heart ;  and  the  final  result  of  a  long  series  must  have  been  to  leave 
the  countr}-  in  the  same  condition  as  at  the  beginning.  These  objections  do  not 
prove  that  the  theory  of  warping  is  untenable.  They  merely  show  that  a  warping 
of  a  peculiar  sort  is  demanded  different  from  anything  of  which  we  have  knowledge 
elsewhere. 

Granting,  then,  the  possibility  of  rhythmic  cmstal  movements  by  which  the 
lake  and  rivers  of  Sistan  may  have  been  deflected  first  to  this  side  of  their  basin  and 
then  to  that,  do  the  red  and  green  clays  show  all  the  expectable  features  ?  In  all 
but  one  respect  they  do.  The  amount  of  warping  demanded  by  the  tlieory  is  so 
slight  and  may  have  taken  ])lace  .so  slowly  that  the  streams  encroaching  upon  the 
abandoned  lake  bed  would  spread  into  broad  sheets  and  would  lay  down  subaerial 


290  THE   BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA    AND   SISTAN. 

or  fluviatile  deposits  which  would  merge  imperceptibly  into  those  of  the  lake. 
Rapid  movements  would  involve  unconfonnities  between  the  lacustrine  and  fluviatile 
deposits,  but  slow  movements  would  involve  just  such  transitions  as  actually  exist. 
The  structure  and  texture  of  the  clays  agree  with  the  demands  of  the  theory  of 
warping. 

The  weakness  of  this  theor>'  is  that  it  does  not  explain  the  difference  between 
the  red  color  of  the  fluviatile  strata  and  the  green  of  the  lacustrine  layers.  The 
transition  from  red  to  green  must  mean  that  the  grains  of  waste  at  the  bottom  of  a 
red  layer  were  exposed  to  different  conditions  of  weathering  from  those  of  the  green 
grains  a  few  inches  lower.  An  important  and  widespread  change  must  have  taken 
place  in  a  short  time.  It  is  quite  impossible  that  such  a  change  should  take  place 
merely  because  the  border  of  the  lake  has  been  shifted  a  few  miles.  Whether  the 
lake  shore  is  a  mile  or  two  this  side  or  that  of  a  given  point,  the  deposits  must  have 
come  from  approximately  the  same  mountains  and  must  have  been  subjected  to  the 
.same  journey  under  precisely  the  .same  conditions,  except  for  the  last  mile  or  two. 
If  the  pink  grains  have  had  time  to  become  highly  oxidized,  it  is  inconceivable  that 
the  green  grains,  brought  by  the  same  stream,  have  scarceh'  had  time  to  become 
weathered  at  all.  This  might  indeed  happen  in  the  case  of  two  individual  grains, 
one  of  which  was  brought  from  the  mountains  in  a  single  year  by  a  flood,  while 
the  other  spent  many  years  upon  the  way,  but  it  could  not  possibly  happen  with  an 
infinite  number  of  grains.  The  color  of  the  clays  seems  to  be  an  insunnountable 
obstacle  to  the  acceptance  of  the  theory'  of  rhjthmic  war])ing. 

(d)  Fluvial  or  Laciistral  Theory. — The  theory  which  explains  the  phenomena 
of  Sistan  by  a  succession  of  fluvial  and  interfluvial  ejx)chs  is  an  expansion  of  the 
principles  which  have  become  so  well  established  in  the  study  of  the  glacial  phenom- 
ena of  Europe  and  North  America.  During  fluvial  or  lacustral  epochs  the  increased 
rainfall  or  decreased  evaporation  would  cause  a  large  lake  in  the  basin  of  Sistan ;  the 
streams  from  the  surrounding  mountains  would  become  fuller  and  more  perennial, 
vegetation  would  become  more  abundant,  and  the  mountain  slopes  would  tend  to 
become  graded.  As  a  result  of  all  this  the  load  of  the  stream  would  be  fine  in  texture 
and  would  be  carried  quickly  to  the  lake,  where  it  would  be  deposited  without  having 
an  opportunit)'  to  become  highl}-  weathered.  The  lake  bottom  would  be  covered  with 
unoxidized  clays  of  fine  texture  and  light  color.  On  the  advent  of  an  interfluvial 
epoch,  the  lake  would  decrease  in  size,  and  marshes  would  encroach  upon  its  edges  ; 
the  rivers  would  dwindle  and  become  intermittent,  and  at  the  same  time  would 
become  subject  to  fiercer  floods ;  vegetation  would  ever}-where  decrease ;  and  the 
slopes  would  become  ungraded.  These  changes  would  allow  coarser  materials,  such 
as  sand  and  even  gravel,  to  be  washed  in  over  the  exposed  portions  of  the  old  lake 
bed.  The  total  amount  of  material  might  be  greater  than  during  the  moister  period, 
for  the  flood  torrents  would  be  loaded  to  the  utmost ;  but  the  jotiniey  of  a  given 
particle  would  be  much  slower,  for  the  laden  floods  would  quickly  spread  into  a 
sheet  and  deposit  their  loads,  and  many  short  journeys  separated  by  long  periods  of 
exposure  woidd  be  required  to  bring  the  waste  of  the  mountains  to  its  final  resting 
place.     During  this  protracted  journey  the  redness  which  characterizes  the  fluviatile 


THE   GRAVELS   OF   SISTAN.  29I 

strata  would  be  acquired  through  oxidization.  A  succession  of  ten  fluvial  and  inter- 
fluvial  epochs  would  account  for  all  the  observed  facts  of  the  clays  of  Sistan.  There 
is  therefore  reasonable  ground  for  the  working  hypothesis  that  Sistan,  and  pre- 
sumably the  Iran  basin,  has  passed  through  at  least  ten  fluvial  epochs  during  the 
Quaternary  era.  The  number  of  these  epochs  is  surprising  and  adds  interest  to  the 
question  of  their  relation  to  the  glacial  epochs  of  other  countries. 

THE   GRAVELS   OF   SISTAN. 

Before  we  can  consider  the  question  of  the  relation  of  the  fluvial  period  of  Persia 
and  the  glacial  period  of  other  lands,  it  will  be  necessary-  to  ascertain  the  history-  of 
Sistan  since  the  volcanic  outbreaks  which  elevated  the  clays.  The  first  part  of  this 
history  is  recorded  in  gravel  deposits,  and  the  later  part  in  terraces.  A  reference  to 
the  diagrams  of  the  sections  (plate  5)  exposed  in  the  lake  bluffs  shows  that  at 
the  top  of  each  a  stratum  of  gravel  lies  uncomformably  on  the  cla)s.  In  sections  C 
to  F  the  gravel  is  greatly  developed  and  reaches  a  thickness  of  from  100  to  150  feet. 
These  sections  are  located  a  few  miles  south  of  Kuh-i-Chaku,  in  a  region  which 
received  the  full  force  of  the  uplift  due  to  the  volcano,  but  was  not  covered  with  la\-a 
like  A.  Their  situation  is  most  advantageous  for  the  preservation  of  a  record  of  all 
the  non-volcanic  events  since  the  eruption  of  Kuh-i-Chaku. 

The  eruption  took  place  during  a  time  of  gravel  deposition,  as  appears  from 
the  gravel  under  the  la\-a  in  section  A  and  the  much  greater  thickness  of  gravel 
which  accumulated  nearby  outside  the  lava-covered  area.  The  change  from  the 
deposition  of  silt  to  that  of  gravel  was  probably  due  to  an  uplift  of  the  borders  of 
the  basin,  whereby  the  slope  of  the  streams  was  steepened  and  opportunity  gi\-en 
them  to  carry  away  the  material  which  had  accumulated  upon  the  graded  slopes  of 
the  mountains  a  few  miles  to  the  west,  or  in  the  small  basins  scattered  among  them. 
Evidence  of  such  an  uplift  is  found  in  the  stage  of  dissection  of  the  mountain  range 
on  the  western  border  of  Sistan,  and  in  certain  lava  sheets.  West  of  Bendan,  on 
the  road  to  Neh,  a  large  sheet  of  dark  lava,  from  one  to  three  hundred  feet  thick, 
fonns  a  high  mesa,  like  Kuh-i-Khoja  and  Kuh-i-Chaku.  The  lava  does  not  rest  upon 
clays,  however,  but  upon  a  broad,  smooth  expanse  of  relatively  soft  limestone  and 
shale,  both  of  which  are  evenly  tnmcated  by  a  surface  of  erosion.  This  surface 
could  only  have  been  reduced  to  such  smoothness  by  long  erosion  at  a  lower  level, 
for  the  strata  vary  much  in  hardness  and  are  highly  folded.  Most  of  the  mountains 
round  abotit  are  young  in  appearance,  although  few  of  them  stand  higher  than 
the  mesa.  The  peaks  are  shai^p  and  well  defined,  even  though  some  of  them  con- 
sist of  the  softer  strata.  The  slopes  are  naked  and  steep,  and  the  valleys,  which  to 
a  large  extent  follow  subsequent  courses  along  the  softer  strata,  are  narrow,  with 
ungraded  sides.  Rising  above  the  mesa  and  the  lower  peaks  are  a  number  of  large, 
flat-topped  mountains,  most,  if  not  all,  of  which  are  composed  of  more  resistant 
limestone.  Apparently  at  the  time  of  the  eruption  which  fonned  the  lava-sheet 
capping  the  mesa,  the  country-  stood  lower  than  now  and  consisted  of  hills  of 
gentle  relief,  from  among  which  rose  residual  mountains  of  limestone.  Such  a 
mature  country  is  exactly  what  might  be  expected  at  the  end  of  the  long,  quiet 
period  during  which  the  alternating  pink  and  green  clays  of  Sistan  were  deposited. 


292  THE   BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND   SISTAN. 

While  there  is  no  direct  evidence  as  to  the  time  of  the  uplift,  it  seems  safe  to 
associate  its  inception  with  the  first  accumulation  of  g^ravel  around  the  lake  of  Sistan. 
Judging  from  the  appearance  of  the  lava  cap  of  the  mesa,  it  must  be  of  approximately 
the  same  age  as  Kuh-i-Chaku. 

How  long  the  process  of  uplifting  the  mountains  continued  or  how  widely 
it  extended  we  do  not  know.  The  distorted  shorelines  which  I  shall  presently 
describe  show  that  warping  continued  till  very  recent  times.  To-day  earthquakes 
seem  to  be  unknown  in  Sistan,  but  Mr.  Tate  informed  me  that  either  Iben-i-Haukl 
or  Iben-i-Batuta  record  the  occurrence  of  one  in  the  eleventh  century.  On  the  edges 
of  the  vSistan  basin,  however,  earthquakes  still  persist.  Two  hundred  miles  to  the 
south  the  smouldering  volcano  of  Kiih-i-Taftan  proves  that  the  forces  of  vulcanism 
are  still  active  ;  while  300  miles  to  the  eastward  McMahon  (a,  p.  10)  reports  that 
earthquakes  are  common  along  a  remarkable  fault-crack  which  extends  north  and 
.south  for  120  miles  along  the  Afghan  frontier  between  Kandahar  and  Quetta.  It 
is  highl)'  probable  that  the  basin  of  Sistan,  like  so  many  of  the  other  basins  of 
Persia,  is  being  uplifted  along  the  edges.  The  invasion  of  gravel  in  a  thin  sheet  on 
everj'  portion  of  the  basin  floor  may  be  due  in  part  to  these  mo\-ements. 

A  detailed  study  of  the  thick  gravels  near  Kuh-i-Chaku  is  difficult  because  of 
the  extent  to  which  the  deposits  are  hidden  by  their  own  talus.  Sections  E  and  F, 
however,  show  that  the  gravels  are  interstratified  with  finer  beds  of  silt,  red  for  the 
most  part.  The  alternating  beds  seem  to  be  related  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
alternating  clays  below  ;  the  gravels  seem  to  occupy  a  place  corresponding  to  the 
pink  clays,  while  the  silts  correspond  to  the  green  lacustrine  clays.  The  problem 
of  accounting  for  the  alternations  in  the  upper  strata  is  the  same  as  in  the  clays,  and 
the  same  reasoning  applies.  If  our  conclusions  are  correct,  earth-movements,  of  which 
the  \olcanoes  were  one  manifestation,  elevated  the  northwestern  corner  of  Sistan, 
reviving  erosion  among  the  mountains  and  raising  part  of  the  bottom  of  the  lake 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  water.  The  clays  of  the  lake  bottom  were  exposed  to  erosion 
and  certain  layers  were  carried  away,  forming  an  unconformity,  but  soon  abundant 
gravel  was  brought  down  from  the  renewed  mountains  and  the  whole  country  was 
buried  in  it.  This  must  have  happened  during  an  interfluvial  epoch,  as  appears 
from  tlie  gravels.  A  fluvial  epoch  then  ensued,  and,  to  use  a  word  not  recognized 
by  lexicographers,  the  ungradation  of  the  mountains  was  checked.  The  conditions 
of  the  fluvial  epoch  favored  the  preser\'ation  of  the  graded  slopes  of  the  mature 
topography  of  the  uplifted  mountains,  and  the  stripping  which  had  progressed 
rapidly  during  the  interfluvial  epoch  was  retarded.  Accordingly  the  materials 
brought  down  by  the  streams  were  fine-grained,  and  silts  accumulated  upon  the 
gravels.  Thus  it  seems  probable  the  changes  went  on  until  three  more  were  added 
to  the  ten  fluvial  epochs  that  had  gone  before.  The  evidence  for  these  last  three  is 
not  so  abundant  or  conclusive  as  for  their  predecessors  ;  but  three  strong  strata  of 
gravel  separated  by  finer  material  cap  the  bluffs  in  many  places  where  no  sections 
were  obtained,  and  it  is  difl[icult  to  explain  them  otherwise.  We  rebel  at  the 
thought  of  adding  epoch  to  epoch  in  such  wholesale  fashion,  yet  thirteen  or  a 
hundred  epochs  of  climatic  change  are  as  reasonable  as  two. 


THE  TERRACES   OF   SISTAN.  293 

THE   TERRACES   OF   SISTAN. 
NORTHWEST  SIDE  OF  THE  r,AKE. 

In  Sistan  lacustrine  and  fluviatile  terraces  merge  into  one  another,  but  cause  no 
confusion,  as  they  both  tell  the  same  stor)'.  Scattered  among  them  and  often  parallel 
to  them  are  numerous  structural  terraces,  due  to  the  hardness  of  the  gravel  among 
the  upper  and  of  the  green  clay  among  the  lower  strata.  Most  careful  work  is 
needed  to  avoid  confusing  them  with  their  neighbors.  A  fourth  class  of  terraces  is 
due  to  warping.  None  of  these  has  been  detected,  but  the  older  lacustrine  terrace 
has  been  warped,  and  the  corresponding  stream  terraces  must  have  been  similarly 
affected. 

The  lacustrine  terraces  agree  with  those  of  fluviatile  origin ;  two  are  well  devel- 
oped, and  a  third  is  now  in  process  of  formation.  They  indicate  that  since  the  last 
heavy  gravels  were  deposited  on  the  smooth  plain  which  caps  the  upper  terrace 
(fig.  169)  the  lake  has  stood  at  three  different  levels,  at  two  of  which  it  has  cut  high 
bluffs  in  the  soft  clays  or  formed  large  beaches  where  the  shore  is  less  steep.  The 
bluffs  are  best  developed  on  the  northwest  side  of  the  lake.  At  Bereng,  where  there 
has  been  no  warping,  the  two  upper  levels  are  about  15  and  25  feet  above  the  level 
occupied  by  the  lake  surface  of  January',  1904,  which  was  perhaps  5  feet  lower  than 
the  extreme  high  level  of  floods.  Just  north  of  Bereng  all  the  space  between  the 
15-foot  beach  and  the  present  beach  is  covered  with  beach  material,  and  the  same  is 
tnie  wherever  the  shores  of  the  lake  are  fairly  steep.  Where  the  shores  are  flat,  on 
the  contrar)-,  the  two  beaches  are  sharply  separated.  The  15-foot  beach  appears  to 
be  parallel  to  the  present  shoreline.  The  25-foot  beach,  on  the  contrary-,  has  been 
warped  up  to  a  height  of  300  feet.  At  no  time,  apparently,  did  the  lake  level  reach 
any  great  height,  for  even  a  rise  to  the  15-foot  level  would  mean  that  the  lake  of 
Sistan  must  permanently  overflow  to  that  of  Zirrah,  and  a  rise  to  25  feet  would  cause 
the  two  lakes  to  coalesce  into  one  and  would  invoh'e  an  immense  increase  in  area. 

The  recent  histon,-  of  the  lake  resolves  itself  into  a  few  simple  changes.  At 
the  time  of  the  volcanic  eruptions  of  Chaku  the  lacustrine  deposits  at  tlie  northwest 
corner  of  the  Hamun-i-Sistan  and  along  the  western  side  had  been  uplifted  and 
covered  with  layers  of  gravel  and  silt.  The  gra\-el  layers  appear  to  ha\-e  numbered 
two  before  the  eruptions  began  and  one  during  their  progress  or  after  their  comple- 
tion. When  the  deposition  of  gravel  came  to  an  end  a  vast  and  vev}-  smooth  gravel 
plain  (I,  fig.  169)  surrounded  the  Hamun  and  concealed  a  series  of  lacustrine 
deposits,  very  complete  at  the  north,  but  worn  away  by  the  Bendan  stream  at  the 
south.  At  Chaku  the  plain  stood  several  hundred  feet  higher  than  the  lake, 
although  not  so  high  as  at  present ;  at  Bereng  it  stood  at  the  level  of  to-da}-.  When 
matters  were  in  this  state  the  lake  stood  at  the  25-foot  level  (A,  fig.  169),  and  remained 
there  long  enough  to  form  bluflfs  on  all  sides  of  tlie  lake.  Near  Chaku  these  are 
500  to  600  feet  high  and  are  capped  with  lava ;  toward  the  south  the)-  gradualh' 
descend  till  at  Bereng  they  are  but  20  or  30  feet  high.  At  Daghaz  the  bluffs  still 
border  the  lake  and  are  being  actively  undercut.  The)'  present  an  almost  perpen- 
dicular cliff  100  feet  high.  From  here  northward  they  gradually  retreat,  and  at 
the  same  time  grow  higher,  till  at  Chaku  the)-  are  3  miles  from  the  water.     Where 


294  THE   BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND   SISTAN. 

there  is  no  lava  cap  the  upper  portion  of  the  bhiffs  is  broken  into  three  smaller 
terraces  (x,  y,  2,  fig.  169),  due  to  the  alternate  strata  of  gravel  and  silt,  while  lower 
down  the  hardness  of  the  green  clays  causes  minor  benches.  As  viewed  from  below 
the  crest  of  the  higher  bluffs  sometimes  shows  its  true  flat-topped  character,  but  oftener 
it  appears  like  a  jagged  range  of  high  hills.  Below  the  ragged  terraces  of  the  dark 
gravel  cap  the  softly  outlined  but  steep  slopes  of  the  beautifully  tinted  clays  spread 
into  fine  sprawling  spurs,  separated  by  cleft-like  gorges  and  buttressed  with  round 
greenish  bastions  where  the  harder,  uuweathered  lacustrine  clays  fonn  terraces.  At 
the  base  of  the  cliffs  outstanding  portions  of  clay  fonn  graceful  pj-ramids  or  domes, 
soft  in  outline  and  banded  with  harmonious  colors — pale-pink,  green,  yellow,  and 
purple,  which  ])lend  insensibly  one  into  another. 

After  the  cutting  of  the  first  shoreline,  the  lake  fell  and  perhaps  became  dry 
during  an  interfluvial  period.  When  next  we  have  a  record  the  water  stood  at  B 
(fig.  169),  and  again  cut  a  bluff,  low  and  insignificant  where  it  stood  below  its  pre- 
decessor at  Bereng,  for  example,  but  higher  where  it  completely  undercut  the  latter. 


T    1( 

,  ,^ 

\5_m 

=N-S>-.»>^„-U'5-s:ia^     .. 

issEisaiSffis^^  _ 

ism^sin^issi^ 

\ 

LaJte 

_____^^--__^-_^-_^^__-_— ___ 

— 

Fig.  1 69. — Ideal  Cross-secrion  of  the  Lake  Terraces  and  Bluffs  on  the  Northwest 
Shore  of  the  I-.ake  of  Sistan. 

as  at  Daghaz.  North  of  this  latter  point  a  great  change  had  taken  place  since  the 
fonnation  of  the  earlier  bluffs.  The  whole  country  had  been  uplifted  to  a  height 
which  reached  a  maximum  of  300  feet  at  Cliaku,  as  shown  by  the  height  of  the 
older  shoreline.  Probably  the  elevation  was  in  progress  during  the  earlier  fluvial 
as  well  as  during  the  interfluvial  epoch,  for  the  terrace-top  below  Chaku  slopes 
more  steeply  than  would  be  the  case  if  it  had  all  been  produced  by  water  standing 
at  a  single  level.  At  present  the  lake  is  cutting  insignificant  bluffs  or  depositing 
beaches.  Thus,  on  the  northwestern  shore  of  the  Hamun-i-Sistan,  we  have  a  record 
of  two  fluvial  or  lacustral  epochs  and  two  interfluvial  epochs.  During  the  first 
the  water  stood  approximately  25  feet  higher  than  now,  and  remained  there  long 
enough  to  cut  verj-  far  back  into  the  surrounding  country.  Toward  the  end  of 
this  epoch  the  region  around  Chaku  began  to  rise.  Then  came  a  time  of  falling 
water,  and,  by  inference,  an  interfluvial  epoch,  when  the  lake  became  almost  dr}-. 
When  the  water  again  rose  in  the  succeeding  fluvial  epoch  the  movements  of 
uplift  had  almost  come  to  an  end  and  the  land  stood  in  practically  its  present 
position.  For  a  second  time  bluffs  were  cut.  The  level  of  the  water  was  but  little 
higher  than  to-day,  but  the  area  and  hence  the  volume  of  the  lake  must  have  been 
vastly  larger;  lastl\-,  the  water  fell  to  its  present  level,  and  is  now  fonning  an  insig- 
nificant strand.  This  strand,  however,  lies  higher  than  the  level  where  most  of  the 
lake's  erosive  action  takes  place  at  present,  and  it  seems  probable  that  the  level  of 
the  water  is  now  falling. 


THE  TERRACES   OF   SISTAN.  295 

SODTHBAST  SIDE  OF  XHB  I,AKB. 

On  the  diametrically  opposite  side  of  the  lake,  along  the  southeni  border  of  the 
Helmund  delta,  a  number  of  beaches  and  bluffs  confinn  these  conclusions.  Certain 
features  stand  out  clearly,  and  may  be  classified  according  to  age :  (a)  Modem  shore- 
lines ;  (^)  younger  abandoned  shorelines  closely  connected  with  fresh  bluffs;  (c) 
older  abandoned  shorelines  with  weathered  bluffs. 

Modem  shorelines. — The  modern  shorelines  are  e\'erywhere  weak,  and  in 
many  places  where  the  shore  is  flat  and  marsh)-  they  are  quite  indistinguishable. 
The  lake  can  not  have  stood  long  at  the  present  level,  for  if  it  had  the  present 
shorelines  would  be  more  pronounced.  The  water  appears  to  ha\e  fallen  gradually 
to  its  present  position,  as  is  shown  by  the  character  of  the  beaches  which  inter\-ene 
between  the  present  water-level  and  the  15-foot  level.  Where  the  shores  are  some- 
what steep  the  weak  modern  beach  appears  as  the  lower  member  of  a  series  of  small 
beach  ridges  which  culminate  in  the  well-developed  15-foot  beach.  Where  the 
shores  are  flat  and  are  not  closely  bordered  by  blufis  the  older  beaches  diverge  from 
the  present  lake  shore,  and  are  more  clearly  differentiated. 

YoiDiger  abandoned  shorelines. — (/)  Lidtick. — Three  older  beaches  were  seen 
which  clearly  belong  to  a  time  when  the  lake  stood  higher  than  now.  Their  e.xact 
level  in  reference  to  the  water  could  not  be  ascertained,  but  it  is  certain  that  they  lie 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  lake  to-day.  In  the  first  place,  many  culti\-ated  fields,  and 
even  villages,  lie  between  the  beaches  and  the  lake ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  the 
beaches  are  covered  in  part  with  large  sand-dunes  which  could  only  accumulate  after 
the  water  had  retired.  The  beach  which  lies  nearest  the  lake  was  seen  at  Lutuck, 
half-way  from  Devletabad  to  Vennal.  Here  the  delta  plain  ends  in  low  east-and-west 
bluffs  of  the  the  usual  banded  clays  capped  with  gravel.  From  the  foot  of  the  bluffs 
what  appears  to  be  an  old  beach  diverges  northward.  It  has  now  been  transfonned 
into  a  strip  of  low  sand-dunes  which  cover  a  breadth  of  from  25  to  50  feet,  and  rise 
to  a  height  of  5  feet.  No  pebbles  or  fossils  were  found.  Farther  south  along  the  base 
of  the  cliffs  this  beach  could  not  be  distinguished.  Beyond  Vermal,  however,  there 
is  a  strip  of  sand  which  has  the  character  of  a  beach  without  the  relief.  Where  an 
irrigation  canal  has  been  dug  through  this  the  sand  was  found  to  be  full  of  small 
bi\'alve  shells  like  those  found  in  the  beaches  next  to  be  described. 

{2)  The  Seh-Kuheh  beach  and  bluffs. — Two  or  three  miles  southeast  of  Seh-Kuheh 
and  from  5  to  7  miles  from  the  lake,  there  is  a  much  better  example  of  a  shore- 
line of  the  same  kind  as  that  at  Lutuck.  It  consists  of  the  line  of  fresh  bluffs  from 
which  sections  M,  N,  and  O,  plate  5,  were  taken.  At  their  foot  lies  a  ridge  of  huge 
sand-dunes  (fig.  170),  half  concealing  a  beach  composed  of  sand,  fine  gravel,  and 
bivalve  shells  like  those  of  \'ermal.  About  2  miles  from  Seh-Kuheh  the  beach  leaves 
the  foot  of  the  bluffs  and  runs  northwestward  between  Seh-Kuheh  and  the  lake.  It 
takes  the  same  fonn  as  the  beach  at  Lutuck — a  long  line  of  sand  blown  into  dunes 
by  the  wind.  It  is  not  impossible  that  the  two  beaches  are  of  the  same  age, 
although  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  the  Lutuck  beach  belongs  to  a  slightly  later 
stage  of  the  lake's  history-. 

The  exact  age  of  the  Seh-K\iheh  beach  can  not  be  detennined  by  phj'siographic 
evidence,  but  it  is  at  least  evident  that  the  water  stood  upon  it  ver>'  recently.     This 


296 


THE   BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND   SISTAN. 


is  shown  by  the  bUiffs  (fig.  170).  Wherever  they  are  fronted  by  a  beach  they 
are  extremely  fresh,  as  though  the  waves  had  been  at  work  on  them  btit  yesterday. 
Their  tops  present  a  clean,  sharp  angle  and  are  little  dissected,  and  their  slope  is 
almost  perpendicular.  Yet  the  material  of  which  they  are  composed  is  by  no  means 
resistant  and  contains  many  sandy  or  silty  portions  which  are  subject  to  rapid 
degradation.  Moreover,  the  beach  is  also  fresh  and  is  not  concealed  by  talus  from 
above.  Where  the  beach  and  the  bluffs  diverge  the  character  of  the  latter  at  once 
changes.  They  become  rounded  and  well  dissected,  a  sloping  body  of  talus  lies  at 
their  base,  and  the  cliffs  slope  so  gently  that  thej-  are  covered  with  gravel  and  waste 
derived  from  the  battered  tops.  The  beaches  and  the  fresh  bluffs  can  not  be  old. 
The  accuumlation  of  sand  at  the  base  of  the  latter  is  of  very  recent  date.     The  large 


Fig.  170. — Lacustrine  Bluffs  and  Recent  Sand-dunes  near  Seh-Kuheh.     View  to  the  northeast. 

dune  shown  in  the  illustration  (fig.  1 70)  is  said  by  the  natives  to  have  accumulated 
in  three  years.  Under  it  are  seen  the  cross-bedded  remains  of  older  dunes  which 
have  been  repeatedly  formed  and  swept  away.  Under  the  lowest  of  them,  and  rest- 
ing upon  the  old  beach,  I  saw  the  ruined  mud  walls  of  an  ancient  garden.  This  is 
said  to  have  belonged  to  a  certain  Rustum  Khan,  who  died  a  hundred  years  ago. 
It  is  clear  that  the  accumulation  of  the  dunes  is  the  work  of  a  comparatively  short 
time,  probabh-  not  more  than  two  or  three  hundred  years.  Moreover,  it  is  probable 
that  the  accumulation  of  the  dunes  would  begin  within  a  relatively  short  time  after 
the  retirement  of  the  water.  Accordingly,  from  the  recency  of  the  sand-dunes  and 
the  freshness  of  the  beach  and  bluffs,  I  am  incliued  to  believe  that  the  lake  stood 
at  the  level  of  the  Seh-Kuheh  beach  at  a  date  which  is  to  be  measured  in  hundreds 


THE  TERRACES   OF   SI  STAN.  297 

rather  than  thousands  of  years,  and  which  falls  well  within  historical  times.  It  is 
probable,  as  will  be  shown  later,  that  the  lake  has  stood  twice  at  this  level,  but  this 
inference  is  based  on  historical  rather  than  physiographic  evidence.  This  level 
seems  to  be  that  at  which  the  lake  would  permanently  discharge  to  the  God-i-Zirrah 
through  the  Shila.  Therefore  the  lake  might  be  expected  to  return  to  this  position 
whenever  it  was  abundantly  supplied  with  water. 

(j)  The  Sabazkim  beach  and  bluffs. — The  most  remarkable  of  the  old  beaches 
of  Sistan  lies  in  the  northward-facing  bay  of  Sabazkim,  a  mile  and  a  half  south  of 
Aliabad,  on  the  road  from  Seh-Kuheh  to  Kohuk.  It  is  situated  12  miles  from 
the  lake,  and  is  elevated  but  little  above  it,  standing  probably  at  the  15-foot  level. 
When  the  water  filled  Sabazkim  Bay  it  must  have  covered  most  of  that  part  of  the 
Helmund  delta  which  is  to-day  most  thickly  populated,  although  the  ridges  occupied 


-«N  >  ■ 


»  '1 


^>--^  "li^l*.*-  -K^— '  "^  •^--  •"■-■A^i  '^    t-  -  -   -  -  -^^» 


Fig.  171. — Abandoned  Beach  and  Lacustrine  Bluffs  at  Sabazkim.     At  the  base  o(  the  bluffs  sand-dunes 

are  accumulating. 

by  Zahidan  and  most  of  the  other  ancient  ruins  were  probably  out  of  water. 
The  shape  and  position  of  the  bay  exposed  it  to  the  full  force  of  the  waves  and 
currents  generated  by  the  fierce  north-northwest  "Wind  of  One  Hundred  and 
Twenty  Days,"  and  the  result  is  seen  in  the  size  of  the  beaches.  At  the  base  of  the 
highest  of  the  Sabazkim  bluffs,  where  the  British  Arbitration  Commission  has  set 
up  a  monument,  there  is  a  beach,  over  500  feet  broad,  with  a  rise  of  20  feet  (fig.  171). 
At  the  top  of  the  beach  rise  large  sand-dunes  like  those  at  Seh-Kuheh,  and  behind 
these  a  ver}'  freshly  eroded  cliff  rises  almost  perpendicularly  to  a  height  of  no  feet 
(see  section  P,  plate  5).  The  upper  part  of  the  beach  is  composed  of  fine  gravel,  the 
middle  part  of  small  cobble-stones  and  sand,  and  the  part  far  out  toward  tlie  lake  of 
sand.     Ever\^where  the  beach  is  crowded  with  shells  of  four  or  five  kinds,  of  which 


298 


THE    RASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND    SISTAN. 


two,  a  clam  and  the  pink  mussel  already  mentioned,  are  said  by  the  natives  to  still 
live  in  the  lake.  The  others  may  also  exist,  but  are  too  small  to  be  noticed,  except 
by  the  scientist.  At  present,  however,  the  amount  of  life  in  the  lake  is  so  small  that 
I  did  not  once  see  any  living  creatures  or  even  any  shells  of  those  that  had  recently 
died.  This  decrease  in  life  is  the  natural  result  of  the  drying  up  of  the  lake.  When 
the  water  stood  at  the  higher  levels  and  was  always  abundant,  conditions  were 
favorable  for  plentiful  lacustrine  life;  when  the  water  decreased  and  actually  dried 
up,  as  in  1872,  most  of  the  animals  perished. 


Fig.  172.— Old  L.ake  Beach  at  Sabazkim,  looking  West.     TTie  lake  stood  on  the  right  of  the  beach  and  a 

lagoon  on  the  left. 

Near  the  middle  of  the  bay  of  Sabazkim  the  beach  and  the  bluff  part  company. 
The  cliff  bends  southward  and  at  once  loses  its  steep,  freshly-cut  appearance  and 
becomes  like  the  corresponding  cliff  at  Seh-Kuheh.  The  beach  assumes  the  fonn  of 
a  gravel  ridge  from  10  to  15  feet  high  and  as  level  as  a  railway  embankment 
(see  fig.  172).     It  continues  unbroken  for  a  distance  of  4  or  5  miles  and  po.ssibly 


Xdke 


>~^~^Xaffoon 


Fig.  1 73. — Ideal  cross-section  of  the  old  Lacustrine  Beach  at  Sabazkim. 


farther.  In  cross-section  (fig.  173)  it  shows  several  ridges  thrown  up  when  the  waves 
were  at  different  heights.  Every-where,  even  in  the  coarse  gravel,  shells  abound. 
Between  the  beach  and  the  cliffs  to  the  .south  there  is  a  broad  lagoon.  This  is 
bordered  by  worn,  battered  cliffs,  at  the  base  of  which  lies  a  small  beach  which 
was  probably  formed  before  the  waves  had  built  the  larger  beach  which  now  cuts  off 
the  lagoon. 


THE  TERRACES   OF   SISTAN. 


299 


Older  abandoned  shorelines. — Traces  of  the  older  lake  level  were  not  found 
in  great  abundance  on  the  southeast  side  of  the  lake,  although  there  were  enough 
to  prove  that  they  exist.  At  Lutuck  the  lower  bluffs  are  capped  by  a  narrow  plain 
or  terrace  about  15  feet,  possibly  more,  above  the  r 5-foot  beach.  From  this  rises 
a  second  line  of  bluffs  much  more  worn  than  any  of  the  lower  ones  and  well  sheeted 
over  with  gravel,  so  that  the>-  present  a  slope  which  a  horse  or  even  a  camel  can 
ascend.  At  Seh-Kuheh  and  Sabazkim  there  are  similar  old  bluffs.  Those  at 
Sabazkim  are  shown  in  the  sketch  (fig.  174).     From  either  side  of  the  central  bluff 


MAUN 


LAKE  -BED 


o  Aliatoad 


o|w^^\ 


Fig.  174.— Sketch  Map  of  the  Ancient  Shore  features  in  the  Bay  of  Sabazkim. 

a  wing  of  terrace  branches  off  at  a  height  of  about  30  feet  above  the  15-foot  beach. 
The  foot  of  the  upper  terrace  seems  to  represent  the  position  of  the  lake  at  the  time 
when  the  25-foot  beach  was  formed  in  the  neighborhood  of  Bereng.  Apparently 
here,  as  at  Kuh-i-Chaku,  warping  took  place  between  the  last  two  fluvial  epochs. 

COMPARISONS. 

A  comparison  of  the  lacustrine  terraces  of  Sistan  with  those  of  other  regions 
described  in  this  \olume  shows  that  in  each  case  there  were  two  epochs  of  high 
water  preceding  the  present  epoch  of  low  or  medium  water.  At  Shor  Kiil,  in 
Chinese  Turkestan,  at  the  playas  of  Khaf  and  of  Kulberenj  and  at  Sistan  precisely 
the  same  phenomena  are  repeated.  In  the  latter  case  we  should  not  expect  more  than 
two  lacustrine  terraces,  because  of  the  movements  of  the  crust  which  have  interfered 
with  possil^le  records  of  older  lake  levels.  In  the  other  cases,  however,  a  greater 
number  would  be  expected  to  agree  with  the  number  of  glacial  or  fluvial  epochs 
of  which  there  is  evidence  in  neighboring  mountains  or  valleys.  It  seems  prob- 
able that  the  iuterfluvial  epoch  preceding  the  fonnation  of  the  first  terrace  was 
of  unusual  length,  or  of  unusual  character  in  some  respect,  so  that  traces  of  earlier 
lacustrine  action  were  destroyed.  Such  a  supposition  is  supported  b)-  the  great  gap 
which  we  have  seen  to  exist  at  Kogneh  and  at  Bajistan  between  the  tsvo  lower 
terraces  and  those  above  them. 


300  THE   BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND   SISTAN. 

Extinct  lakes  are  a  feature  of  many  of  the  chief  playas  of  the  Iran  basin.  At 
Mashkel,  south-southeast  of  Sistan,  in  the  continuation  of  the  Afj^han  depression, 
the  plaj'a  seems  to  be  surrounded  by  terraces  in  the  same  way  as  the  playa  of  Khaf, 
so  far  as  can  be  judged  from  the  brief  notes  of  MacGregor  (pp.  128,  129,  134)  and 
others.  Farther  to  the  east,  in  the  center  of  northern  Bahichistan,  tlie  Lora  Hamun, 
as  described  by  Vredenburg  (pp.  210-21 1),  "is  now  a  large  playa  entirely  dry  most 
of  the  time.  In  it  are  islands  of  lava  rising  to  a  height  of  50  feet,  more  or  less. 
They  are  surrounded  and  even  covered  by  pale-yellow  silt  of  just  the  same  sort  as 
that  which  forms  the  floor  of  the  playa.  The  lower  portion  of  these  mud  deposits, 
though  ravined  by  the  rain,  still  presents  a  terraced  outline,  and  denudation  has 
exposed  sections  in  which  strings  of  angular  pebbles  from  the  tuffs  of  the  hills  rest 
iipon  strata  of  the  buff-colored  mud.  It  is  quite  evident  that  this  mud,  washed  down 
in  former  times  by  rivers,  was  deposited  in  the  still  water  of  a  lake,  just  as  the 
deposit  of  the  same  nature  which  co\-ers  the  dried-up  floor.  Moreover,  as  they  are 
found  at  all  heights  along  the  slopes  of  the  hill,  it  shows  that  these  were  at  that 
time  entirely  submerged ;  further,  that  a  large  sheet  of  water  then  existed  whose 
surface  rose  to  a  height  of  50  feet  or  more  above  the  floor  of  the  dried-up  lake,  and 
that  the  Lora  Hamun  covered  a  surface  three  or  four  times  as  extensive  as  the  plain 
which  now  bears  that  name." 

In  the  same  connection  Vredenburg  (p.  210)  says  that  throughout  all  the 
confusion  of  the  volcanic  mountains,  interrupted  drainage,  and  smooth  playas  of 
northern  Baluchistan  "there  are  some  curiously  regular  features.  Such  are  the 
long  lines  of  terraces  formed  by  the  conglomerates  (/.  <?.,  gravels)  stretching  over 
wide  areas.  It  frequently  happens  that  the  traveler  following  the  narrow  camel- 
track  beaten  out  of  the  stone-strewn  'dasht'  (i.  e.,  naked  gravel  slopes),  along  what 
seems  an  interminable  plain,  suddenly  finds  himself  on  the  edge  of  an  escarpment 
and  sees  another  plain  below  him  some  30  or  40  feet  lower.  This  lower  ground 
may  again  slope  gently  down  to  another  step-like  escarpment,  and  there  may  be  thus 
three  or  four  of  these  superposed  terraces.  If  the  country  had  been  more  thoroughly 
examined  it  would  have  been  found  probably  that  these  lines  of  terraces  fonn 
concentric  belts  surrounding  at  a  distance  some  of  the  larger  lake  basins.  They 
admit  of  only  one  explanation — they  represent  ancient  shorelines  of  great  lakes, 
which  now  have  either  dried  up  entirely  or  are  reduced  to  insignificant  shallow 
marshes  or  salt  swamps."  It  is  not  impossible  that  these  gravel  terraces  of  Vreden- 
burg are  of  fluviatile  rather  than  lacustrine  origin,  and  resemble  those  which  I  have 
described  along  the  Bendan  stream,  for  example.  Nevertheless,  the  facts  stated  in 
regard  to  these  and  to  the  Lora  Hamun  are  enough  to  show  that  the  phenomena  of 
Sistan  are  not  isolated,  but  form  part  of  a  record  of  changes  which  have  affected  all 
the  neighboring  regions. 

SUMMARY. 

On  the  basis  of  the  facts  and  conclusions  set  forth  in  the  preceding  review  of 
Sistan  and  of  the  confirmatory'  evidence  from  surroimding  districts,  we  are  prepared 
to  sum  up  the  history  of  this  part  of  Eastern  Persia  during  recent  geological  times. 
Changes  of  climate  have  been  the  keynote  of  that  historj',  although  there  has  been 


THE  TERRACES   OF    SISTAN.  3OI 

no  lack  of  other  activities.  Earth-movenienLs  have  taken  place,  mountains  have 
been  nplifted,  plateaus  have  been  carved  into  mountain  ridges,  basins  have  been 
intensified,  and  volcanoes  have  poured  forth  sheets  of  lava,  but  all  these  actions 
have  been  more  or  less  local  in  their  application.  On  the  whole,  their  action  in 
Eastern  Persia  during  Tertiary  and  Quaternary  times  has  tended  steadily  in  the 
one  direction  of  elevating  the  mountains  and  increasing  their  area,  while  at  the 
same  time  the  basins  have  grown  steadily  smaller  by  the  folding  up  of  their  edges. 
Nevertheless,  this  action  has  not  gone  on  simultaneously  over  the  whole  country, 
and  there  are  many  parts  of  Persia  where  as  yet  we  have  found  no  evidence  of 
tectonic  action  since  the  end  of  the  Tertiary  era. 

With  climatic  changes  the  case  is  different.  Their  action  is  uniform  over  broad 
areas,  and  if  our  interpretation  of  the  phenomena  of  Eastern  Persia  is  correct,  they 
have  been  extraordinarily  active  throughout  the  whole  of  Quatemar>'  time.  Thus 
interpreted  the  recent  geological  history  of  Persia  begins  with  an  arid  climate  at 
the  end  of  the  Tertiary  era,  after  which  ensued  a  fluvial  period  composed  of  some 
fifteen  fluvial  epochs  of  prolonged  rivers  and  expanded  lakes,  separated  by  inter- 
fluvial  epochs  of  shortened  rivers  and  diminished  lakes.  The  fluvial  epochs  increased 
in  frequency  and  possibly  in  length  and  intensity  from  the  beginning  up  to  about 
the  middle,  after  which  they  decreased.  The  evidence  for  these  many  epochs  is  of 
varying  degrees  of  validity,  and  increases  in  certainty  from  first  to  last.  The  two 
lacustrine  terraces  of  the  various  lakes  and  playas  indicate  two  recent  fluvial  epochs. 
The  kind  of  evidence  and  the  method  of  study  are  of  a  sort  which  is  ever)' where 
familiar  and  which  has  been  successfully  tested  in  many  cases.  The  three  preceding 
epochs  rest  on  less  effective  evidence.  The  evidence  for  them  in  the  three  gravel 
strata  at  Sistan  is  not  in  itself  conclusive,  since  it  consists  of  but  two  or  three 
sections ;  and  the  warping  and  volcanic  action  which  are  known  to  have  been  taking 
place  at  the  same  time  may  have  influenced  the  deposition  of  the  gravels.  Never- 
theless, the  widespread  occurrence  of  a  series  of  five  terraces  in  other  localities,  and 
the  impossibility  of  explaining  these  except  on  the  climatic  theory,  give  a  fair  degree 
of  reliability  to  the  conclusion  that  three  more  severe  fluvial  epochs  preceded  the 
two  recorded  in  the  lake  shores.  The  test  of  this  conclusion  lies  in  a  further  study 
of  those  regions  where,  according  to  theoretically  deduced  consequences,  similar 
terraces  ought  to  be  found. 

The  remaining  ten  epochs  rest  confessedly  on  a  small  basis  of  fact.  It  has  been 
sunnised  that  the  glacial  period  may  have  consisted  of  an  increasing  series  of 
climatic  changes  preceding  a  decreasing  series,  and  there  is  evidence  that  the  exten- 
sion of  the  ice  during  what  is  commonly  known  as  the  second  glacial  epoch  was 
greater  than  during  its  predecessor.  Further  than  this,  however,  so  far  as  I  am 
aware,  no  one  has  ever  gone.  The  facts  of  Sistan  seem  explicable  only  on  the 
theory  of  a  large  number  of  increasingly  severe  fluvial  epochs  followed  by  an 
approximately  equal  series  of  decreasing  epochs.  This  is  at  least  a  fair  working 
hypothesis.  To  test  the  theory  is  difficult  in  the  ver}-  nature  of  the  case.  Yet  it 
can  be  done.  In  the  first  place,  a  far  more  extensive  study  of  the  abundant  deposits 
of  Sistan  is  practicable  to-day,  and  it  is  only  a  matter  of  time  when  it  will  be 


302  THE    BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND   SISTAN. 

possible  to  enter  Afghanistan  and  study  the  lacustrine  clays  which  are  reported  to  lie 
far  up  the  Helniund.  It  is  not  impossible  that  other  localities  may  be  discovered 
where  the  bottoms  have  been  lifted  up  and  exposed  to  view  {e.  g.,  Chahek,  p.  267), 
but  none  is  likely  to  be  found  where  a  greater  harvest  of  facts  can  be  gathered  than 
at  Sistan.  There  is  also  a  way  in  which  the  theory  can  be  tested  nearer  home.  If 
the  glacial  period  in  all  parts  of  the  world  consisted  of  an  increasing  and  a  decreasing 
series  of  changes,  the  bottoms  of  such  lakes  as  Bonneville  and  Lahontan  must 
preserve  the  record.  Some  day  it  will  be  possible  to  investigate  the  dry  beds  of 
these  lakes  by  borings,  and  the  tlieor>'  can  be  adequately  tested. 

CLIMATE  AND  HISTORY. 

In  the  concluding  section  of  this  report  I  shall  deal  briefly  with  the  main  object 
of  our  expedition,  to  which  the  preceding  sections  have  been  tributary.  Iran  is 
one  of  the  countries  which  will  most  readily  furnish  an  answer  to  the  question  of 
the  relation  of  history  and  physiography,  for  the  country  has  been  inhabited  by  man 
from  remote  antiquity.  If  man  inhabited  the  earth  during  the  later  glacial  or  fluvial 
epochs,  Iran  would  probably  have  been  peculiarly  favorable  to  his  development  by 
reason  of  the  relatively  warm  climate  and  moderate  degree  of  rainfall  which  it 
appears  to  have  enjoyed.  A  few  facts  bearing  on  this  subject  may  indicate  the  line 
along  which  a  solution  of  the  problem  will  perhaps  be  found.  History,  archeolog}', 
and  tradition  all  present  certain  features  which  seem  to  point  to  a  greater  rainfall  in 
antiquity  than  at  present.  Physiographic  evidence  points  in  the  same  direction. 
The  question  is  :  Do  the  two  sets  of  facts  show  points  of  contact,  and  does  the  same 
theory  explain  them  all } 

THE    ANCIENT   CLIMATE    OF    IRAN. 

Many  writers  on  Iran  have  referred  to  the  possibility  that  in  antiquity  the  rain- 
fall of  the  country  was  greater  than  now.  For  instance,  Blanford  {a,  p.  500)  states 
that  "  from  the  accounts  given  by  ancient  writers  it  appears  highly  probable  that 
the  population  of  Persia  was  much  greater  and  the  cultivated  land  far  more  exten- 
sive 2,000  years  ago  than  at  present,  and  this  may  have  been  due  to  the  country' 
being  more  fertile  in  consequence  of  the  rainfall  being  greater.  Some  alteration 
may  be  due  to  the  extirpation  of  trees  and  bushes,  the  consequent  destruction  of 
soil,  and  increased  evaporation ;  but  this  alone  will  scarcely  account  for  the  change 
which  has  taken  place."  Sykes  (p.  364)  expresses  the  same  opinion  :  "Alexander's 
march  with  a  large  army  and  a  huge  camp  tends  to  show  that  Asia  was,  in  his  day, 
not  so  arid  as  at  present,  and  it  would  seem  possible  that  in  a  sense  my  observations 
in  Sistan  support  this  contention."  In  various  places  he  elaborates  this  view  and 
presents  other  e\'idence.  The  Rakshan  Valley,  for  instance  fpp.  234-235),  in  western 
Baluchistan,  300  miles  southeast  of  Sistan,  is  a  stream  of  exceedingly  salt  water 
flowing  in  a  wide,  shallow  valley  and  discharging  into  the  Mashkel  River.  The 
marches  up  this  valley  were  "  intensely  monotonous,  day  succeeding  day  without  a 
sign  of  life  being  anywhere  visible,  yet  we  could  interest  ourselves  by  speculating 
on  the  causes  that  had  swept  away  the  population  from  this  \'alley,  which  for  mile 


CLIMATE   AND    HISTORY.  3O3 

after  mile  was  carefully  terraced,  while  here  and  there  were  mounds  littered  with 
pottery.  War,  no  doubt,  has  had  much  to  do  with  it,  but  even  more  probably  ruth- 
less deforestation  in  this  and  adjacent  districts  had  decreased  the  rainfall,  after  which 
the  springs  dried  up  and  the  population  was  driven  away." 

Holdich,  speaking  of  the  swamp  of  Mashkel,  which  lies  in  the  same  part  of 
Baluchistan,  but  a  hundred  miles  nearer  to  Sistan,  remarks : 

Tliis  extraordinary  abundance  of  water  locally  is  difficult  to  explain.  It  appears  to  be  a  survival 
of  a  far  more  extended  condition  of  water-supply  in  southern  Baluchistan  than  now  exists.  There 
is  widespread  evidence  of  former  cultivation  by  an  elaborate  system  of  irrigation  in  so  many  parts 
of  southern  Baluchistan,  where  it  is  vain  to  hope  that  such  cultivation  will  ever  exist  again,  that  it 
seems  as  if  some  mighty  change  must  have  come  over  the  land  thus  to  render  so  much  of  it  water- 
less. It  may  be  due  to  forest  denudation  and  cessaition  of  rainfall,  but,  more  likely,  it  is  due  to  the 
gradual  exhaustion  of  those  subterranean  sources  which  seem  to  be  still  prevalent  in  more  north- 
ern districts. 

In  speaking  of  the  mountains  of  Kharan,  100  or  200  miles  east  of  Mashkel,  in  the 

center  of  northern  Baluchistan,  Vredenburg  (p. 2 13)  comes  to  a  similar  conclusion  : 

In  all  the  valleys  round  Zara  there  are  to  be  seen  hundreds  of  s.tone  walls  which  are  called 
"  gorband,"  or  "  dams  of  the  infidels."  Sometimes  they  stretch  right  across  the  flat,  pebbly  floors  of 
the  great  valleys,  which,  for  want  of  a  better  name,  are  termed  "  rivers."  They  also  occur  across 
the  entrance  to  most  of  the  tributary  ravines  and  at  various  heights  above  the  main  valley.  The 
country  is  quite  uninhabitable  for  want  of  water,  and  yet  there  is  no  doubt  about  the  nature  of  these 
walls,  which  are  similar  to  works  erected  to  the  present  day  in  many  regions  of  Baluchistan  and 
Persia,  being,  in  fact,  nothing  but  terraced  fields.  In  many  cases  they  still  hold  back  the  soil,  for- 
merly cultivated,  which  has  been  heaped  up  against  them.  .  .  .  The  absence  of  any  canals,  the 
great  height  to  which  the  walls  are  found  up  the  tributary  ravines,  show  that  the  fields  were  not 
watered  by  means  of  some  general  scheme  of  irrigation  with  canals  deriving  their  supply  from  some 
reservoirs  placed  at  a  greater  altitude.  Perennial  springs,  now  everywhere  dried  up,  must  have 
existed  in  all  the  ravines  where  these  remains  are  found,  which  shows  how  much  greater  the  rain- 
fall must  have  been  formerly. 

From  the  evidence  of  certain  tombs  Vredenburg  thinks  that  the  fields  were  in 
use  even  down  to  Mohammedan  times. 

Alexander's  march. 

The  march  of  Alexander  from  Mesopotamia  across  Persia  to  Samarkand  and 
the  Jaxartes  River,  and  thence  via  Bactria  to  India  and  back  through  Baluchistan 
to  Persepolis  and  Babj'lou,  is  justly  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  remarkable  feats  in 
histor}'.  There  have  been  innumerable  discussions  of  the  subject,  and  the  general 
tendeucy,  especially  of  those  writers  who  have  actually  traversed  the  more  remote 
routes  followed  by  the  conquerer,  is  to  think  that  under  present  conditions  the 
march  would  have  been  impossible.  This  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  the  whole 
question,  but  a  few  remarks  tipon  the  portion  of  the  journey  nearest  Sistan  mav  not 
be  out  of  place.  When  Alexander  left  India  he  divided  his  army  of  1 10,000  men 
into  two  parts,  one  of  which,  including  the  elephants,  the  invalids,  and  the  heavy 
baggage,  was  put  under  the  command  of  Krateros,  and  followed  a  route  through 
southern  Afghanistan  and  Sistan.  Alexander  himself,  as  Sykes  says  (p.  169),  "faced 
the  horrors  of  the  desert  by  the  route  along  the  coast  of  Baluchistan  in  order  to 
suppl)'  his  fleet  by  means  of  his  army,"  although  Arrian  says  it  was  because  of  his 
wish  to  rival  the  journeys  of  Scmiramis  and  Cyrus  along  the  same  road  to  India. 


304  THE    BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND   SISTAN. 

The  route  wliich  he  followed  is  exceeding;ly  difficult  even  for  a  small  and 
quickly  moving  caravan;  and  for  an  annysuchas  that  of  Alexander,  which  is  stated 
to  have  been  accompanied  by  women  and  children,  the  hardship  must  have  been 
incredible.  St.  John  (a,  p.  75)  is  of  the  opinion  that  "  in  the  early  part  of  his 
march  through  Baluchistan,  Alexander  must  ....  have  been  deceived  by 
his  guides,  who  seem  to  have  kept  him  at  exactly  that  distance  from  the  coast  where 
there  is  least  water."  Farther  west,  in  southeastern  Persia,  conditions  were  scarcely 
better.  Sykes,  who  is  the  latest  authority  on  this  region,  speaks  of  it  as  follows  : 
"During  my  journey  from  Chahbar  to  Ceh,  in  October,  1893,  which  was  also  the 
time  that  the  Greek  army  traversed  Makran  (/.  e.,  southeastern  Persia  and  south- 
western Baluchistan),  the  temperature  in  the  shade  was  generally  about  100  degrees, 
while  water  was  almost  nonexistent,  and  what  little  there  was  we  could  hardly 
drink  (because  of  the  salinity)."  (P.  171.)  "  Throughout  the  journey  (from  Chahbar 
to  Kirman  during  the  months  from  October  to  June,  1893-94)  forage  was  our  chief 
anxiety  (although  the  caravan  numbered  only  from  a  dozen  to  twenty  men)." 
(P.  1 12.)  Among  the  higher  mountains'of  this  corner  of  Persia  water  can  usually  be 
found  by  digging  in  the  water-courses,  although  it  is  very  poor  and  scarce  (p.  113). 
Forage,  however,  is  always  hard  to  obtain,  and  (p.  123)  the  governors-general  of  the 
province  practically  never  visit  the  district  becaiise  of  the  scarcity  of  su])plies.  Yet 
Alexander  nnist  have  crossed  it  with  a  large  anny.  Northeast  of  Bampur,  even  in 
March,  when  vegetation  is  at  its  best,  forage  was  so  scarce  that  the  governor-general, 
whose  guest  Sykes  was,  had  had  a  supply  stored  at  ever}-  stage  (p.  144).  "  This  desert 
stretch  of  more  than  150  miles  "  along  the  north  side  of  the  Jaz  Morian  swanip  was 
once  thickly  populated,  as  is  shown  by  numerous  ruins,  and  by  the  remnants  of 
kanats  or  underground  canals,  to  the  reported  number  of  200,  which  are  now  drj-. 
Many  of  these  canals  have  probably  been  abandoned  because  of  wars,  but  that  does 
not  explain  how  Alexander  procured  water  for  an  army  where  there  are  now  merely 
salt  pools,  nor  how  he  procured  forage  for  all  his  baggage  animals  where  to-day  a 
few  score  can  barely  subsist.     (See  plate  4.) 

The  division  of  Alexander's  army  which  marched  through  Afghanistan  under 
Krateros  appears  to  have  had  no  special  difficulties,  for  Arrian,  the  historian  of  the 
expedition,  merely  remarks  that  "when  Alexander  arrived  in  Kirman,  Krateros 
joined  him,  bringing  the  rest  of  the  army  and  the  elephants."  (Quoted  by  Sykes, 
page  174.)  Apparently  Krateros  went  via  Quetta  to  Kandahar,  and  thence  his 
route  is  agreed  to  have  been  down  the  Helniund  to  Sistan.  So  far  the  line  of  march 
would  present  no  insuperable  difficulties  even  to-day,  although  Bellew  (p.  182),  who 
followed  the  same  route,  relates  that  where  the  road  made  a  detour  to  get  around 
an  impassable  portion  of  the  river  valley,  some  of  his  men  nearly  died  of  thirst  on 
the  hot  gravel  plain.  Beyond  Sistan  Krateros's  route  led  across  the  southern  end  of 
the  Dasht-i-Lut  to  Narmashir.  As  St.  John  says  (a,  p.  75),  "  it  would  certainly 
puzzle  a  Krateros  nowadays  to  march  his  elephants  and  heavy  baggage  from  the 
Helmund  to  Narmashir;  but  there  is  everj'  reason  to  suppose  that  part  of  Persia  to 
have  been  far  better  populated  and  better  watered  than  it  is  at  present."  The  greater 
part  of  the  distance  of  180  miles  from  the  borders  of  Sistan  to  Nannashir  is  the 
most  absolute  desert,  either  waterless  or  supplied  with  the  most  brackish  wells. 


CLIMATE   AND   HISTORY.  305 

Nasratabad,  the  one  village,  could  hardly  give  supplies  for  a  hundred  men,  and 
even.-thing  for  an  army  would  have  to  be  brought  from  Sistan.  Yet  the  route  was 
once  so  important  that  strong  fortifications,  caravanserais,  and  other  ancient  ruins 
occur  at  frequent  intervals,  as  do  also  kanats  or  canals.  Of  the  last  90  miles  Smith 
(p.  248)  says  that  at  both  of  the  two  possible  stopping-places  "water  was  obtainable 
by  digging  wells  5  feet  deep,  but  it  was  brackish  and  bad ;  and  at  the  latter  place 
there  is  a  stream  so  salt  and  bitter  that  none  of  our  animals  would  even  touch  it." 
Sykes  (a,  p.  417)  describes  the  same  route  in  equally  uncomplimentary  terms: 

Gurg  (th«  first  stage)  is  generally  considered  to  be  the  worst  stage  in  this  part  of  the  desert, 
the  pools  of  water  being  quite  iindrinkable.  ...  In  summer,  owing  to  the  heat,  Gurg  is  little 
better  than  a  death-trap,  and  here,  more  than  elsewhere,  the  abomination  of  desolation  is  realized. 
.  .  .  At  Shurgaz  (the  next  stage)  the  water  was  just  a  little  better,  but  so  scanty  that  there  was 
none  for  the  camels. 

At  the  end  of  the  third  da}',  after  marching  over  a  hundred  miles  through  the 
worst  part  of  the  desert,  a  better  region  was  reached.  "A  day's  halt  was  impera- 
tive, as  our  camels  could  hardly  move."  That  a  large  army  could  cross  such  a 
desert  is  hardly  credible  ;  that  such  an  army  should  have  no  hardships  worthy  of 
mention  by  the  historian  is  less  credible ;  and  that  they  could  bring  elephants  with 
them  is  least  credible. 

The  elephants  of  Krateros  are  not  the  only  ones  mentioned  in  history.  Mal- 
colm (I,  p.  35)  speaks  of  them  as  abundant  in  antiquity  in  the  kingdom  of  Persia, 
as  is  shown  by  both  the  ancient  history  and  the  sculpture  of  the  country'.  Mazan- 
deran  is  the  only  part  of  the  countrj-  that  could  now  support  them,  but  they  are 
spoken  of  in  other  places. 

Another  interesting  commentary'  on  the  climate  of  antiquitj'  is  afforded  by  a 
comparison  of  a  description  of  the  province  of  Kirman  as  it  is  to-day,  by  Sykes 
(p.  44),  and  as  it  was  in  the  past  b}-  Strabo  (quoted  by  Sykes,  p.  48).  The  modern 
description  runs  :  "  The  whole  province  can  best  be  described  as  partly  desert,  pure 
and  simple,  and  partly  desert  tempered  by  oasis.  ...  As  may  be  supposed, 
the  ri\ers  are  imimportant."  The  ancient  description  is  scarcely  longer,  but  conveys 
a  wholly  different  impression  :  "  Kirman  .  .  .  lies  more  to  the  north  than 
Gedrosia.  This  is  indicated  by  its  fertilit)-,  for  it  not  only  produces  ever)thing,  but 
the  trees  are  of  large  size.  .  .  .  It  is  also  watered  by  rivers.  ...  It  includes 
also  a  desert  tract  which  is  contiguous  to  Parthia."  Even  since  the  twelfth  ceuturj- 
there  has  been  deterioration,  for  in  ninnerous  cases  ancient  Mohannnedan  towns  are 
abandoned  and  can  not  be  restored  because  no  water  can  be  procured. 

THE   DESICCATION   OF   ANCIENT   RUINS. 

The  ruins  of  E^asteni  Persia  and  the  neighboring  countries  are  incredibly 
abundant.  The  mighty  cities  of  the  dead  crowding  the  shores  of  the  lake  of  Sistan 
in  the  center,  and  the  abundant  vestiges  of  a  fonner  population  much  denser  than 
the  present  in  Kirman  to  the  west,  Baluchistan  to  the  south,  and  the  Helmund  Valley 
to  the  east,  have  already  been  mentioned.  E.xamples  might  be  multiplied  indefinitely, 
for  the  tale  of  ever}-  traveler  is  full  of  them.  North  of  Sistan  the  same  is  tnie. 
Half-way  from  Herat  to  Kandahar  the  plain  of  Dasht-i-Bakwa,  where,  according  to 


306  THE   BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND    SISTAN. 

an  Afghan  prophecy,  a  great  battle  will  some  day  take  place  between  the  English 
and  the  Russians,  is  now  inhabited  only  by  nomads,  althongh  this  has  by  no  means 
always  been  the  case.  Yate  (p.  ii)  "  found  the  plain  covered  with  the  marks  of  old 
karezes,  or  underground  water-channels,  and  it  had  evidently  been  thickly  populated 
by  a  culti\ating  cla^s  at  some  time,  while  water  was  said  to  be  obtained  all  over  it. 
When  I  passed  it  was  all  a  waste."  Ferrier,  in  the  same  region,  describes  the  ruins 
of  city  after  city.  To  a  certain  extent  these  might  be  restored  to  prosperity  under 
good  government,  but  there  are  certain  places  which  no  amount  of  government, 
good  or  bad,  could  affect. 

NEH. 

The  ruins  of  Neh,  called  Kala  Shah  Duzd,  or  the  Castle  of  King  Thief,  illustrate 

this  point  admirably.     They  are  located  60  miles  west  of  the  northern  end  of  the 

lake  of  Sistan.     They  have  been  described  by  Sykes  (p.  413),  who  says  : 

"Neh  ...  is  undoubtedly  a  site  of  great  antiquity,  and  must  have  been  a  place  of  impor- 
tance. ...  Art  the  present  time  nine  routes  radiate  from  the  town.  Ancient  Neh  .  .  . 
three  miles  to  the  east  of  the  more  modern  fort,  is  built  on  a  hill  only  accessible  on  the  west  side, 
and  is  carefully  guarded  by  ...  a  line  of  ba&tioned  wall.  .  .  .  Lying  up  the  steep  hill- 
side are  thousands  of  houses,  built  of  unihewn  stone  fitted  together  with  mortar  the  summit 
being  some  six  hundred  feet  above  the  plain.  The  other  faces  are  perpendicular,  but  the  water 
supply  seemed  insufficient,  there  being  only  tanks,  so  far  as  could  be  seen.  The  area  covered  was 
quite  four  acres,  and  these  are  certainly  the  most  important  ruins  which  I  have  examined  in  East- 
ern Persia." 

It  seems  to  me  that  Sykes,  who  is  usually  very  accurate,  has  overestimated  the 
size  and  importance  of  the  ruins.  I  estimated  that  there  were  at  least  300  houses 
still  standing,  possibly  500,  and  there  may  have  been  as  many  more  which  have 
fallen.  As  to  the  paucity  of  the  water-supply,  these  questions  seem  to  be  not 
whether  there  are  cisterns  enough,  but  how  the  cisterns  were  filled.  I  counted 
five  large  cisterns,  all  of  them  located  near  the  top  of  the  hill.  One  was  located  in 
the  mouth  of  a  small  valley,  where  it  might  possibly  be  filled  .several  times  in  the 
year  if  the  drainage  from  among  the  surrounding  houses  were  allowed  to  pour  into 
it.  The  others  were  placed  at  the  very  crest  of  the  hill,  where  they  were  not  only 
surrounded  by  houses,  but  had  only  the  most  limited  drainage  areas,  so  that  the 
rainfall  of  a  whole  year  under  present  conditions  would  hardly  fill  them,  even  if  the 
drainage  firom  the  streets  were  allowed  to  come  in.  If  the  place  were  simply  a 
fortress  we  might  suppose  that  water  was  laboriously  carried  up  the  steep  hill  from 
the  plain  600  or  700  feet  below  and  stored  for  time  of  need,  although  there  is 
now  no  source  of  water  within  2  or  3  miles.  The  number  and  pennanence  of 
the  houses  and  the  fact  that  many  of  them  lie  outside  the  fortifications,  even 
though  there  are  open  spaces  inside,  indicate  that  the  place  was  a  pennanent  town. 
If  the  inhaljitants  were  agriculturists  their  fields  must  have  been  far  away  ;  if  they 
were  artisans  and  tradesmen  their  number  is  surprisingly  large  in  proportion  to  the 
present  possibilities  of  the  surrounding  country.  If  the  rainfall  were  greater  there 
would  be  no  difficulty  in  understanding  the  location  of  Kala  Shah  Duzd,  for  the 
cisterns  could  be  filled,  fields  could  be  cultivated  nearby,  and  the  surrounding 
plains  could  support  villages  which  would  warrant  the  building  of  a  large  fortress 
and  town.     It  is  not  absolutely  impossible  that  such  a  place  should  grow  up  under 


CLIMATE   AND    HISTORY.  307 

existing  conditions,  but  it  is  highly  improbable.  Ancient  Neh  is  one  of  many 
places  which  are  hard  to  understand  unless  we  suppose  that  some  radical  change  of 
conditions  has  taken  place. 

THE  MERV  OASIS. 

In  this  connection  two  other  places  farther  north  in  Transcaspia  deserve  men- 
tion. One  of  these  is  the  ancient  city  and  oasis  of  Merv,  which  I  have  described 
in  a  short  report  which  will  be  published  among  the  archeological  reports  of  the 
Pumpelly  Expedition  to  Turkestan  for  the  year  1904.  A  study  of  the  distribution 
and  extent  of  the  ruins  which  cover  the  oasis  indicates  that  in  antiquity  the  extent 
of  land  under  cultivation  and  the  number  of  inhabitants  were  not  only  greater  than 
at  present,  but  were  greater  than  would  at  present  be  possible,  even  if  all  the  water 
of  the  Murg-ab  River,  which  sustains  the  oasis,  were  utilized  with  as  much  care  as 
is  employed  upon  the  experiment  station  of  the  Imperial  Domain.  It  is  difficult  to 
account  for  this  unless  the  water-supply  was  formerly  greater. 

BAI,   KUWI   AND   ANAU. 

The  other  Transcaspian  example  is  at  Anau,  near  Askhabad.  The  main  features 
of  this  place,  both  modem  and  ancient,  will  be  described  in  the  forthcoming  arch- 
eological reports  of  the  Pumpelly  Expedition.  At  Bal  Kuwi,  in  the  desert  about  10 
miles  north-northwest  of  Anau,  lie  the  ruins  of  an  ancient  nnid  village.  The  main 
site  consists  of  a  mound  perhaps  15  feet  high,  ver)-  broad  and  flat,  and  co\-ered  with 
bits  of  pottery.  Where  not  buried  in  sand-dunes  the  surface  of  the  mound  shows 
the  rectangular  outlines  of  houses,  the  roofs  of  which  have  disappeared,  while  the 
walls  have  been  buried  to  the  top  in  the  pink  .sand  of  the  desert,  and  are  thus  pre- 
served with  their  tops  flush  with  the  surface.  Excavation  shows  that  these  houses 
are  built  without  a  trace  of  wood.  On  the  floor  of  each  room  is  a  foot  or  two  of 
loose  cla)',  half  of  it  in  the  fonn  of  sun-dried  bricks,  which  appears  to  be  the  debris 
of  the  roof  Apparently  the  houses  were  made  entirel\-  of  mud,  with  domed  roofs, 
like  those  of  modem  Persia.  The  total  number  of  houses  in  the  main  village  may 
be  estimated  at  from  75  to  150,  while  half  a  mile  away,  at  Telbeng  Berkoh,  are  20 
more  of  the  same  kind.  The  date  of  the  mins  is  unknown,  and  so  far  as  the  style 
of  architecture  and  the  kinds  of  pottery  which  are  found  in  the  houses  are  concerned, 
they  may  belong  to  any  epoch  within  the  last  two  thousand  years.  The  Turkoman 
graj'-beards  have  no  tradition  on  the  subject  and  merely  say  that  when  they  came  to 
the  country  fiftj'  years  ago  the  ruins  presented  the  same  appearance  as  now.  The 
inhabitants  of  the  ruins  were  probabl}-  tillers  of  the  soil,  for  the  houses  are  per- 
manent structures,  and  their  number,  at  least  75,  is  so  great  that  they  can  hardly  have 
been  occupied  by  a  ])astoral  people.  At  present  there  are  three  wells  at  Bal  Kuwi, 
and  20  families  of  Turkomans  camp  there  for  three  months  in  the  spring.  They 
say  that  there  is  grass  enough  for  nine  months,  but  as  it  gets  dry  they  move  awa}-. 
Even  allowing  for  understatement  by  the  Turkomans,  it  is  hardly  probable  that  75 
and  probably  more  families  could  be  pennanently  supported  by  flocks  in  a  region 
which  the  present  inhabitants  consider  only  sufficient  to  support  20  families  nine 
months  out  of  each  j-ear.     If  the  inhabitants  of  Bal  Kuwi  were  not  pastoral,  they 


308  THE   BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND    SISTAN. 

must  have  been  ag^ricnltural,  but  agriculture  is  to-clay  impossible  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  their  village.  In  the  first  place,  more  than  half  the  region  round  about  is 
covered  with  sand-dunes.  In  the  second  place,  irrigation  is  impossible,  and  with- 
out irrigation  agriculture  is  utterly  impossible,  as  the  Turkomans  know  to  their 
cost.  P.al  Kuwi  lies  in  the  course  which  the  Anau  stream  would  pursue  if  it  should 
be  prolonged.  At  present,  however,  even  in  the  greatest  floods,  when  no  water  is 
taken  off  upstream  for  irrigation,  the  floods  are  lost  in  the  desert  before  coming 
half-way  from  Anau  to  Bal  Kuwi.  Between  their  point  of  disappearance  and  Bal 
Kuwi  lie  some  miles  of  sand-dunes,  through  which  it  is  evident  that  water  never 
pa.sses.  In  brief,  Bal  Kuwi  appears  to  have  been  an  agricultural  village,  but  under 
present  conditions  that  would  l)e  impossible.  If  in  some  way  the  Anau  stream  could 
be  caused  to  increase  its  volume  so  as  to  flow  farther  out  into  the  de.sert,  the  old 
condition  might  be  restored.  Bal  Kuwi  seems  to  be  a  parallel  case  to  Shah  Duzd 
and  Merv,  and  to  many  other  ruins  in  this  part  of  the  world. 

THB  NORTHERN  BORDER  OF  THE  DASHT-I-LUT. 

One  more  illustration  will  suffice  to  show  the  uniformity  with  which  depopu- 
lation has  gone  on  over  the  whole  of  Eastern  Persia  and  its  neighbors.  Lord  Curzon 
(p.  255)  made  a  rapid  journey  along  the  high-road  from  Meshed  to  Teheran,  which 
skirts  the  northern  border  of  the  great  Persian  de.sert. 

For  the  entire  distance  of  560  miles  there  is  frequent  and  ahnndant  evidence  that  the  country 
traversed  was  once  more  densely  or  less  sparsely  populated,  and  for  that  reason  more  carefully 
tended,  than  it  is  at  present.  The  traveler  passes  towns  which  have  been  entirely  abandoned,  and 
display  only  a  melancholy  confusion  of  tottering  waJls  and  fallen  towers.  He  observes  citadels 
and  fortified  posts  whidi  have  crumbled  into  irretrievable  decay  and  are  now  little  more  than  shape- 
less heaps  of  -mud.  He  sees  Jong  lines  of  choked  and  disused  kanats,  the  shafts  of  the  underground 
wells  by  which  waiter  was  once  brought  to  the  lands  from  the  mountains.  The  waJls  of  the  cities  are 
in  ruins  and  exhibit  yawning  gaps;  the  few  public  buildings  of  any  note  are  falling  to  pieces;  rows 
of  former  dwellings  have  been  abandoned  to  dust-heaps  and  dogs. 

From  other  more  detailed  accounts  of  this  same  region  it  appears  that  the  niins 
are  of  all  ages,  from  two  thoti.sand  to  twenty  years,  and  that  the  country  has  been 
subjected  to  a  gradual  proc&ss  of  niin  and  depopulation.  Practically  all  writers  on 
Persia  agree  that  in  the  time  of  r3arius  and  as  late  as  early  Mohammedan  times  the 
countrj-  was  decidedly  more  prosperous  and  more  populous  than  now ;  and  the  area 
of  cultivation  and  the  visible  supply  of  water  in  canals  and  kanats,  or  under- 
ground channels,  were  much  greater. 

THE   CADSE   OF   THE   DEPOPULATION   OF   IRAN. 

Several  theories  have  been  advanced  in  explanation  of  the  gradual  ruin  of 
Persia  and  its  neighbors,  but  all  of  them  can  be  summed  up  under  two.  According 
to  one  school,  in  which  Curzon  is  the  most  prominent  writer,  the  climate  of  Persia 
has  remained  practicallj-  unaltered  throughout  historical  time.  The  decay  of  the 
country  is  due  to  wars  and  massacres  and  the  frightful  misgoveniment  which  has 
prevailed  centurj'  after  century.  If  a  strong,  just  government  were  established  the 
fonner  conditions  of  prosperity  would  be  restored.  The  progress  which  has  been 
made  under  British  rule  in  the  arid  portions  of  India  and  under  Russian  rule  in 


CLIMATE   AND    HISTORY.  309 

Transcaspia  shows  what  can  be  done.  The  other  school,  of  which  Blanford  is  the 
best-known  representative,  holds  that  dnring  the  last  two  thousand  years  the  climate 
nmst  have  changed.  Wars  and  nii.sgovernment  have  been  a  fearful  curse,  but  their 
influence  is  not  sufficient  to  account  for  the  location  of  large  towns  in  places  where 
to-day  a  caravan  can  with  difficult}-  find  a  pool  of  brackish  water.  The  just  rule  of  a 
European  power  may  do  much  in  favored  localities,  and  it  would  be  an  immense 
blessing  ever)where ;  but  it  can  not  restore  the  ancient  prosperity. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  enter  into  an  exhaustive  discussion  of  these  two 
opposing  views,  for  that  would  lead  into  a  consideration  of  the  causes  of  wars  and 
migrations,  the  reasons  for  the  fall  of  nations,  and  the  philosophy  of  histor}'.  I  shall 
merely'  state  a  few  salient  facts  which  may  be  put  in  the  fonn  of  answers  to  the 
following  questions  :  (a)  Do  wars  and  misgovernment  necessarily  cause  pennanent 
depopulation  ?  (d)  Are  Eastern  Persia  and  its  neighbors  able  to  support  a  much  larger 
population  than  that  which  now  occupies  them  ?  (c)  Is  there  any  independent 
evidence  that  the  climate  either  has  or  has  not  changed  during  historical  times  ? 

(a)  The  influence  of  wars. — The  depopulation  caused  b)^  wars  is  one  of  the 
best-known  facts  of  histor}\  The  question  now  before  us  is  whether,  other  conditions 
remaining  unchanged,  frequent  wars  w//jY  cause  pennanent  and  progressive  depopu- 
lation. Examples  from  many  lands  might  be  quoted,  but  Persia  itself  furnishes  an 
answer.  The  province  of  Astrabad  is  one  of  the  few  in  Persia  which  are  blessed  with 
an  abundant  rainfall  and  great  natural  advantages.  For  centuries  its  inhabitants 
have  been  exposed  to  the  terrible  raids  of  the  fierce  Turkomans  and  ha\'e  also  had 
the  disadvantage  of  a  x^xy  unhealthful  climate.  Their  condition  as  described  by 
Vamber}-  in  the  early  sixties  was  most  pitiable.  Even  as  late  as  1880,  when 
conditions  had  much  improved,  owing  to  the  proximity  of  Russia,  O'Donovau 
(p.  190)  relates  that  murderous  affrays  were  frequent  even  in  the  immediate  vicinity 
of  Astrabad.  Yet  in  almost  the  same  paragraph  the  author  enlarges  on  the  density 
of  the  population,  Persian  villages  of  from  20  to  30  houses  being  scattered  ever}-  500 
or  600  }ards.  The  fertilit\-  of  the  region  is  so  great  that  the  people  persisted  in 
coming  into  it,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  their  numbers  were  frequently  decimated  by  the 
Turkomans. 

Azerbaijan,  the  northwestern  province  of  Persia,  furnishes  a  more  striking 
example  of  the  same  sort.  This,  according  to  Curzon  (p.  514),  "is  the  province 
which,  excepting  only  Khorasan,  has  more  often  been  violated  by  foreign  invasion 
than  any  other  part  of  Persia.  ...  Its  fertility  of  resources  entitle  it  to  be 
called  the  granar\-  of  Northern  Iran."  Tabriz,  the  ca2)ital  (p.  518)  "has  fallen  the 
first  victim  to  invading  annies,  and  has  been  successively  held  by  Arabs,  Seljuks, 
Ottomans,  Persians,  and  Russians.  What  the  rage  of  conquest  has  spared,  nature  has 
interfered  to  destroy.  The  city  has  been  desolated  by  frequent  and  calamitous  earth- 
quakes. Twice  we  hear  of  its  being  leveled  to  the  ground  before,  in  1392,  it  was 
sacked  by  Timur,  whose  path  was  strewn  with  mins  that  vied  with  the  convulsions 
of  nature.  Five  times  during  the  last  two  centuries  has  it  again  been  laid  low. 
A  reliable  historian  tells  us  that  80,000  persons  perished  in  the  earthquake  of  1721, 
and  we  hear  from  another  source  that  half  that  number  were  claimed  for  the  death- 
roll  by  its  successor  in  1 780."     Yet  in  spite  of  wars  and  calamities  the  fertilit)-  of 


3IO  THE   BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA    AND    SISTAN. 

the  province  is  such  that  the  city  of  Tabriz  (p.  521)  now  numbers  a  population  of 
nearly  200,000  and  is  the  connnercial  metropolis  of  Persia,  while  the  province 
(p.  517)  contains  2,000,000  inhabitants,  or  from  25  to  40  per  square  mile,  according 
to  the  estimate  which  is  put  upon  its  area.  Ruins  are  found  in  many  parts  of 
Azerbaijan,  but  the}-  do  not  give  the  impression  of  a  countr)-  whose  population  and 
resources  have  steadily  declined,  but  rather  of  a  countr}'  which  has  suffered  and  recov- 
ered. If  war  and  calamit}-  are  the  chief  causes  of  depopulation  and  the  fall  of 
nations,  why  has  Tabriz  lasted  so  steadily,  and  why  is  Azerbaijan  so  prosperous  and 
populous  ? 

A  comparison  of  the  four  provinces  of  Khorasan,  Azerbaijan,  Kirman,  and 
Sistan  is  suggestive.  Khorasan  (Curzon,  pp.  180,  514)  has  suffered  from  war  more 
severely  than  any  other  province  of  Persia.  Its  northern  portion,  where  the  rain- 
fall is  greatest  and  where  also  the  greatest  amount  of  fighting  has  taken  place,  is 
to-day  one  of  the  most  prosperous  portions  of  Persia.  It  contains  abundant  niins, 
but  they  are  by  no  means  the  impressive  features  which  they  are  farther  south. 
The  southern  and  drier  part  of  the  province  is  full  of  niius  and  has  suffered  great 
depopulation.  Azerbaijan,  which  (Curzon,  p.  514)  has  suffered  from  war  more 
than  any  province  except  Khorasan,  is  the  most  prosperous  and  thickly  popu- 
lated part  of  Persia.  The  relative  abundance  of  its  water-supply  renders  its  future 
hopeful.  Sistan  has  suffered  from  wars,  but  less  severely  than  the  two  preceding 
provinces.  Nevertheless,  it  has  been  depopulated  to  a  far  greater  extent.  Its 
extreme  aridity  renders  recovery  well-nigh  impossible,  except  along  the  Helmund. 
Kirman  (Sykes,  p.  60)  lies  so  remote  behind  its  barrier  of  deserts  and  mountains 
that  it  has  suffered  from  war  much  less  than  an}'  of  the  three  preceding  provinces. 
Yet  its  ruined  cities  and  its  appearance  of  hopeless  depopulation  are  almost  as  great 
as  in  Sistan.  If  war  and  misgovemment  are  the  cause  of  the  depopulation  of 
Persia,  it  is  remarkable  that  the  two  provinces  which  have  suffered  most  from  war 
and  not  less  from  misgovemment  should  now  be  most  prosperous  and  least  depop- 
ulated ;  while  the  two  which  suffered  less  from  war  and  no  more  from  misgovem- 
ment have  been  fearfully  and,  it  would  seem,  irreparably  depopulated.  It  is  also 
significant  that  the  regions  which  have  suffered  the  greatest  ruin  are  those  where 
water  is  least  abimdant  and  a  decrease  in  the  supply  would  most  quickh-  be  felt. 
Wars  and  misgovemment  do  not  seem  to  necessarily  cause  depopulation,  nor  has 
that  process  gone  on  most  rapidly  where  war  has  been  most  pre\'alent. 

(d)  The  density  of  the  population  of  Iran. — It  is  often  asserted  that  with  proper 
methods  of  irrigation  Persia  might  support  a  much  larger  population,  and  the 
Persians  are  taken  to  task  for  not  utilizing  their  resources.  The  Persians,  as  Hol- 
dich  (p.  374)  says  of  the  Afghans,  "  have  from  time  immemorial  been  great  practical 
irrigation  engineers.  Ever>'  acre  of  rich  soil  is  made  to  yield  its  abundance  by  means 
of  ever)'  drop  of  water  that  can  be  extracted  from  overground  or  underground  sources. 
It  would  be  rash  to  say  that  the  cultivable  area  of  Afghanistan  could  be  largely 
increased."  Goldsmid,  who  knew  Persia  from  end  to  end,  was  of  the  same  opinion 
in  regard  to  that  coinitry,  as  he  shows  (r,  p.  186)  when  he  speaks  of  "the  precari- 
ousness  of  cultivation  (in  Persia  as  a  whole),  even  where  to  many  travelers  fertility 
has  appeared  undeniable  and  of  considerable  extent." 


CLIMATE  AND    HISTORY.  3 II 

The  mistake  of  overestimating  the  possibilities  of  Persia  is  ven-  common 
among  travelers.  For  instance,  O'Donovan  (I,  pp.  426-427)  describes  the  country 
between  Abasabad  and  Mazinan,  a  few  miles  west  of  Sabzawar,  on  the  road  from 
Meshed  to  Teheran,  as  "a  dreary-  flat,  entirely  uncultivated,  though  plentifully 
supplied  with  water  from  the  Kal  IMura  River,  which  has  left  marks  of  extensive 
inundations  in  numerous  white  deposits  of  salt.  This  plain  would  undoubtedly 
produce  abundant  crops  of  rice  if  properly  cultivated."  After  passing  numerous 
ruins  of  fortifications,  reservoirs,  tanks,  and  other  structures,  "  we  crossed  the  Kal 
Mura,  a  river  about  40  yards  wide  here  and  tolerably  deep,  though  on  the  maps  it 
is  usually  marked  as  dry  in  summer.  The  country  around  was  once  extensively 
cultivated,  as  the  traces  of  the  irrigating  ditches  show.  .  .  .  Nowadays,  culti- 
vation is  only  attempted  immediately  around  the  towns,  and  even  there  .  .  .  the 
crops  are  miserably  poor."  In  June,  1880,  when  O'Donovan  traversed  this  region, 
the  Kal  Mura  River  must  have  been  phenomenally  high,  for  when  Smith  (p.  376) 
passed  this  way  in  IMay,  1872,  a  year  of  ver}-  fair  rainfall,  with  unusually  good  crops, 
he  foimd  the  Kal  Mura  at  the  same  place  "  a  narrow  rivulet  of  salt  water."  Appar- 
ently it  was  lack  of  water,  not  lack  of  energy,  which  prevented  the  Persians  from 
raising  O'Donovan's  "  abundant  crops  of  rice." 

Only  a  year  previous  to  Smith's  journey  this  ver^,-  region  suffered  from  a  famine 
of  such  frightful  severity  that  he  found  (p.  367ff.)  skeletons  of  men  along  the  road 
where  they  had  died  of  hunger,  skulls  of  children  in  the  very  houses,  450  out  of  600 
shops  in  Nishapur  closed  and  the  others  barely  able  to  subsist.  Sebzewar  (p.  373) 
was  reduced  from  a  population  of  30,000  to  scarcely  10,000.  Ever,-where  death 
ran  riot  and  frequently  half  the  people  of  a  village  perished.  The  famine  extended 
with  great  severity  over  all  Persia  except  the  northwest,  and  is  described  by 
Goldsmid,  Bellew,  Smith,  and  St.  John.  For  six  years  the  rainfall  was  scanty  and 
there  was  much  suffering.  Then  came  a  season  when  the  crops  in  many  places 
failed  almost  entirely,  and  thousands  of  people  perished  in  ever)-  province.  In  view 
of  the  periodic  return  of  such  famines  it  does  not  seem  probable  that  Persia  is  capable 
of  supporting  permanently  a  population  greatly  in  excess  of  that  of  to-day. 

(c)  Independent  evidence  as  to  the  climate  0/ antiijitity. — Independent  evidence 
as  to  the  climate  of  antiquity  is  hard  to  find.  It  must  be  looked  for  chiefly  in  the 
fonns  of  historical  or  written  record,  archeological  record,  legend,  and  plusiographic 
record.  The  written  accounts  which  afford  evidence  as  to  the  ancient  climate  are 
scattered  in  numerous  inaccessible  volumes  and  have  not  been  investigated.  A  few 
of  the  more  prominent,  such  as  Alexander's  march  and  the  statement  of  Istakhri  that 
in  the  tenth  centurj-  the  God-i-Zirrah  was  100  miles  long,  have  been  mentioned.  In 
general  it  is  well  known  that  ancient  authors  down  to  Mohannnedan  times  speak 
of  Persia  in  a  way  which  implies  a  much  greater  productiveness  and  beauty  and  a 
much  more  abundant  growth  of  trees  than  at  present,  but  their  statements  lack  the 
quantitative  element  which  is  necessary-  for  a  convincing  solution  of  the  question. 
Archeological  evidence  is  more  abundant  and  exact.  The  dams  of  Baluchistan,  the 
ancient  fort  of  Shah  Duzd,  the  oasis  of  Merv,  and  the  village  of  Bal  Kuwi  are  cases 
where  it  seems  as  though  there  had  been  more  water  in  earlier  times.  Probably  a 
more  complete  study  of  Persian  archeolog}-  will  go  far  toward  sohing  the  problem. 


312  THE   BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND   SISTAN. 

LEGENDS. 

Legends  are  proverbially  untrustworthy,  but  there  is  usually  a  solid  kernel  of 
truth  in  their  center.  Smith  (p.  350)  relates  an  ancient  tradition  common  among 
the  natives  of  Bajistan  to  the  effect  that  the  whole  country  around  Bajistan  was 
once  covered  by  the  sea,  and  that  the  place  derives  its  name  from  two  words  signi- 
fying "  to  take  toll,"  alluding  to  the  toll  at  the  ferry  paid  by  travelers  for  boat- 
hire  when  the  waters  had  jiartly  receded.  Farther  east  along  the  borders  of  the 
same  playa  which  lies  near  Bajistan,  "  Yunsi  (the  Persian  form  of  Jonah)  is  marked 
by  local  tradition  as  the  spot  on  which  the  prophet  Jonah  was  cast  by  the  whale, 
and  where  he  lay  for  many  days  concealed  under  a  ptimpkin  plant."  Sykes  (p.  93) 
mentions  these  traditions  and  adds  :  "  Again,  further  east,  on  the  Herat  road,  is  the 
village  of  Langar,  signifying  an  anchor,  and  so  a  port,  and  according  to  M.  Khanikoff, 
there  is  an  ancient  tradition  that  Langar  was  a  harbor  on  the  great  inland  sea. 
Although  legends  are  as  a  rule  far  from  tnistworthy,  yet  in  the  two  instances  given 
it  is  hard  to  understand  how  they  came  to  exist,  unless  there  had  been  an  inland  sea 
at  some  not  ver>'  remote  period."  Smith  (p.  367)  relates  another  legend  which 
does  not  fit  quite  so  well.  Ja-i-Gharak  is  a  village  20  miles  south  of  Meshed,  on  the 
direct  road  to  Nishapur.  It  is  located  in  a  mountain  valley,  1,200  feet  above  Meshed. 
The  name  means  "place  of  drowning,"  and  is  derived  from  an  old  tradition  that 
the  country  here  was  once  covered  by  the  sea,  and  that  a  ship  foundered  here. 
Although  Smith  mentions  a  small  lake  which  has  been  artificially  dammed  below 
the  village,  it  is  hardly  possible  that  a  large  lake  could  ever  have  exi.sted  here,  as  it 
may  possibly  have  done  near  Bajistan,  Yunsi,  and  Langar.  It  may  be  that  the 
name  has  been  transferred  a  few  miles  across  the  mountains  from  tlie  borders  of  the 
Dasht-i-Lut,  which  must  have  been  a  lake  if  the  rainfall  was  ever  greatly  in  excess 
of  that  of  to-day. 

THE   LEGENDARY   HISTORY   OF   SISTAN. 

Sistan  has  its  own  crop  of  legends.  The  village  of  Deh  Abbas  Khan  lies  on 
the  shore  of  the  lake  2  or  3  miles  east  of  Kuh-i-Khoja,  and  is  inhabited  by  Sayids, 
who  are  suppo.sed  to  be  one  of  the  oldest  and  purest  Persian  stocks  in  existence. 
According  to  their  own  traditions,  they  have  inhabited  the  country  from  time 
immemorial,  and  are  the  descendants  of  the  ancient  Zoroastrian  population.  The 
chief  of  the  village  possesses  an  ancient  book  which  has  been  handed  down  to  him 
from  many  generations  of  ancestors,  and  is  now  his  dearest  treasure.  From  this 
book  he  partly  read,  but  mostly  related  to  me  the  following  traditions : 

Long,  long  ago  alJ  Sistan  was  occupied  by  water,  a  great  lake,  which  covered  not  only  the  swamp 
and  the  site  of  the  modern  villages,  but  the  site  of  Zahidan  and  .the  other  ruins  as  well.  King 
Sulinian  (Solomon)  saw  the  lake  and  perceived  that  if  it  were  free  from  water  the  bottom  would  be 
very  good  for  grain  and  melons  and  all  sorts  of  fruit.  At  that  time  there  was  no  more  rain  than 
now,  but  the  rivers,  which  came  from  springs  in  tlie  mountains,  were  very  much  larger.  Desiring 
to  benefit  mankind,  King  Suliman  sent  for  his  "  dhus,"  huge  giants,  each  with  a  single  eye  looking 
upward  from  the  top  of  his  head,  and  ordered  them  to  reclaim  the  lake.  Swifter  than  man  can 
imagine  they  went  to  work,  and  digging  up  earth  from  this  side  and  from  that,  carried  it  on  their 
shoulders  in  bags,  and  filled  the  lake.  By  noon  the  work  was  completed,  and  hence  the  country  is 
sometimes  called  "  Nim-ruz,"  or  "  Half  day."  When  the  work  was  finished  the  "  dhus  "  went  to  the 
springs  in  the  mountains  and  covered  them,  so  that  the  waiter  no  longer  came  out.  Since  that  time 
there  'has  been  some  water  in  the  lake,  but  far  less  than  formerly. 


CLIMATE  AND    HISTORY.  313 

My  ancestors,  whose  record  is  in  this  book,  came  to  Sistan  from  Persia  a  thousand  and  forty- 
three  years  ago  (A.  D.  860).  At  that  time  all  the  villages  were  around  Zafhidan,  where  the  ruins 
now  are.  The  site  of  this  village,  Deh  Abbas  Khan,  was  under  water,  arid  only  became  habitable 
ninety  years  ago.  It  is  now  but  very  little  above  high  -^vater  level,  and  in  the  phenomenal  flood  of 
May,  1903,  it  was  under  water  for  a  time. 

Later  I  visited  the  niins  on  the  mesa  of  Kuh-i-Khoja  with  Mehemet  Bey  of 
Afzelabad,  the  "arbab"  or  chief  of  the  antique  race  of  Sayids,  who  told  me  the 
same  story  with  less  detail.  He  added  a  few  points  which  are  worth  recording. 
In  his  bo)-hood,  si.xty  years  ago,  the  water  about  Kuh-i-Khoja  was  more  abundant  than 
now,  and  came  from  the  south  from  the  Shila  instead  of  from  the  north,  as  it  does 
to-day.  The  ruins  of  Kuh-i-Khoja  are  those  of  structures  built  by  a  king  called 
Kaha-Kaha,  by  whose  name  they  are  still  called.  They  belong  to  the  same  period 
as  the  ruins  of  Sabari,  which  are  built  of  burned  brick  and  lie  at  the  bottom  of 
what  is  now  the  main  northwest  bay  of  the  lake.  At  that  time,  before  the  building 
of  Zahidan,  there  was  no  water  in  the  lake  of  Sistan. 

As  we  approached  the  top  of  Kuh-i-Khoja  the  "arbab"  stopped  me  and,  pointing 
to  two  small  holes  in  the  rock  beside  the  path,  remarked,  "  There  was  a  spring  here 
once,  but  it  was  closed  by  the  Holy  Man,  Hazret  Mehemet  Ali  (one  of  the  immediate 
successors  of  Mohammed).  He  stepped  on  the  spring  and  caused  it  to  drj'  up.  His 
heels  made  these  holes."  When  I  asked  if  there  were  other  springs  of  the  same  sort, 
the  "arbab"  replied  that  he  knew  of  another  on  the  north  side  of  Kuh-i-Khoja,  a 
second  at  Bendan,  called  Sum-i-Duldul,  and  a  third  at  Malik-Siah-Kuh,  in  the  comer 
where  Persia,  Afghanistan,  and  Baluchistan  meet.  All  three  were  closed  in  the  same 
way  by  Hazret  Mehemet  Ali  or  by  his  horse.  At  Malik-Siah-Kuh,  the  "arbab"  added, 
there  was  formerly  a  kanat  or  underground  water  channel,  but  now  it  is  dry. 

From  what  has  just  been  related  it  appears  that  the  history  of  the  lake  of  Sistan, 
as  preserved  in  the  traditions  and  written  records  of  the  ancient  race  of  Sayids, 
consists  of  the  following  periods  :  (i)  A  time  when  water  covered  the  area  now 
occupied  by  the  lake,  the  swamp,  and  the  cultivated  plain.  (2)  A  time  when  the 
lake  diminished  in  size  and  its  shores  were  occupied  b}-  man.  Meanwhile  the  size 
of  the  rivers  decreased  and  springs  dried  up.  At  last  the  lake  had  so  entirely  disap- 
peared that  the  town  of  Sabari  was  built  in  one  of  the  lowest  parts  of  its  bed,  and 
Kaha-Kaha  was  built  on  what  is  now  an  island,  but  was  then  dr^•  land.  (3)  Then 
the  water  returned  to  the  lake,  although  the  springs  still  continued  to  drj-  up.  The 
city  of  Zahidan  was  built.  During  the  days  of  its  prosperity  the  lake  was  larger 
than  now,  and  probably  received  its  water  via  the  Shila.  (4)  Last  comes  the  modem 
period,  the  last  few  centuries,  during  which  the  lake  has  shnnik  to  its  present  size 
and  receives  all  its  water-supph-  via  the  delta  of  the  Helnuind. 

AGREEMENT   OF  LEGEND,    HISTORY,    AND   PHYSIOGRAPHY. 

The  manner  in  which  this  traditional  histor)-  agrees  with  the  historj'  already 
inferred  from  physiographic  e\-idence  deserves  careful  attention.  That  inferred 
history  may  be  recapitulated  as  follows : 

(i)  During  one  of  later  fluvial  epochs  the  upper  or  25-foot  beach  was  fonned 
and  the  lake  probably  covered  the  whole  of  the  swamp  and  plain  of  Sistan  and 
also  the  God-i-Zirrah. 


314  THE   BASTN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA   AND    SISTAN. 

(2)  A  decrease  in  the  size  of  the  lake  ensued  because  of  decreased  rainfall  or 
increased  warmth. 

(3)  Next,  the  lake  stood  at  the  level  of  the  lower  beach,  with  an  area  greatly 
diminished  from  that  of  the  time  of  the  upper  beach.  As  this  is  the  level  at  which 
the  lake  overflows  permanently  to  the  God-i-Zirrah,  the  water  may  have  stood  here 
twice.  The  last  time  was  probably  ver>-  recent,  because  the  bluffs  left  by  it  are  so 
fresh  that  they  can  scarcely  have  existed  more  than  a  few  hundred  years. 

(4)  From  this  tiiTie  of  relatively  high  water  the  lake  appears  to  have  shrunk 
gradually  to  its  present  condition,  as  is  .shown  by  the  transition  from  the  lower  of 
the  old  beaches  to  the  present  shoreline.  Colonel  McMahon  believes  that  the 
condition  of  the  reed-beds  proves  this  decrease  in  size  to  be  still  in  progress. 

The  agreement  between  the  traditional  and  the  physiographic  history  of  Sistan 
is  so  close  as  to  amount  almost  to  identity.  If  we  assume  that  they  are  identical, 
and  put  them  together,  we  find  that  they  match  a  third  set  of  facts,  the  historical, 
which  have  already  been  mentioned,  and  a  reasonable  sequence  of  events  presents 
itself  In  this  we  begin  with  what  was  probably  the  last  fluvial  epoch,  either  when 
the  lakes  of  Sistan  and  Zirrah  were  united  and  stood  at  the  25-foot  beach,  or  more 
probably  when  the  lake  of  Sistan  stood  for  the  first  time  at  the  15-foot  level  and 
overflowed  to  Zirrah.  As  the  fluvial  epoch  began  to  wane,  springs  dried  up,  the 
rivers  decreased  in  volume,  and  the  level  of  the  lake  fell.  As  the  water  retired  the 
abandoned  shores  were  occupied  by  human  inhabitants,  who  we  may  suppose 
began  to  practice  irrigation  at  an  early  date.  At  first  the  largest  tract  of  irrigable 
land  lav  along  the  relatively  elevated  neck  through  which  runs  the  Sliila.  Accord- 
ingly the  largest  canals  were  dug  in  this  direction.  Thus  it  happened  that  the  God- 
i-Zirrah,  which  was  now  separated  from  the  Hanuni-i-Sistan,  received  the  greater 
share  of  water.  Indeed,  it  is  probable  that  practically  the  whole  stream  of  the 
Helmund  flowed  to  Zirrah,  for  Smith  (p.  285)  says  that  in  prehistoric  ages  the 
Helmund  is  reported  to  have  flowed  from  the  dam  of  Kamal,  where  it  now  turns 
north,  in  a  southwest  direction  to  the  lake  of  Zirrah,  and  tradition  has  it  that  Khai 
Khusru  sailed  down  it  in  a  vessel.  Sykes  (p.  365)  quotes  Istakhri  to  the  effect  that 
in  his  day,  the  tenth  century,  the  river  flowed  in  the  same  way.  Earlier  classical 
writers  speak  of  only  one  lake  in  this  part  of  the  world.  It  is  probable  that  at  this 
time  Sistan  was  entirely  drj',  and  the  towns  of  Sabari,  watered  presumably  by  the 
Harud  or  Farah  River,  and  of  Kaha-Kaha,  watered  from  the  Shila,  were  built  in 
what  is  now  the  lake.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  absence  of  water  in  the 
lake  of  Sistan  indicates  extreme  aridity,  for  at  this  time  not  only  was  the  lake  of 
Zirrah  a  hundred  miles  long,  according  to  Istakhri,  but  Sistan  was  in  its  glorj'. 
At  the  height  of  its  prosperity  a  region  which,  as  Curzon  (I,  p.  227)  puts  it, 
"  contains  more  ruined  cities  and  habitations  than  are  perhaps  to  be  found  within 
a  similar  space  of  ground  anywhere  in  the  world,"  must  have  consumed  an  immense 
amount  of  water  in  the  irrigation  of  its  fields.  To  furnish  this  and  at  the  same 
time  fill  the  great  lake  of  Zirrah,  the  rivers  must  have  been  larger  than  now.  The 
limits  of  this  period  of  prosperity  and  of  abundant  water-supply  can  not  be  stated, 
but  they  seem  to  have  included  Alexander,  300  b.  c,  and  Istakhri,  900  a.  d. 


CLIMATE   AND    HISTORY.  315 

Again  there  was  a  change.  The  bed  of  the  lake  of  Sistan  was  once  more  filled 
with  water  to  a  height  greater  than  that  wliich  is  now  reached,  but  less  than  in  the 
previous  epoch  of  high  water,  for  Zahidan  was  not  covered  as  it  had  been  before. 
Between  the  time  of  Istakhri  and  the  present  the  Helmund  was  diverted  from  a 
southwestward  to  a  northward  course,  and  this  was  probabh-  the  cause  of  the  increase 
in  the  size  of  the  lake.  This  is  the  more  probable  because  from  historical  and 
archeological  evidence  it  is  known  that  Zahidan  was  built  soon  after  the  time  of 
Istakhri.  To  suppl)-  so  large  a  city  with  water  a  large  amount  must  have  been 
withdrawn  from  the  Helmund  before  it  reached  the  God-i-Zirrah  and  turned  in 
tke  direction  of  Sistan.  For  some  centuries,  until  its  destruction  by  Tiniur  at  the 
end  of  the  fourteenth  centur>',  Zahidan  continued  to  flourish.  It  is  probable  that 
the  lake  stood  at  a  high  level  for  a  considerable  portion  of  this  time,  for  it  was  able  to 
fonn,  or  at  least  to  rejuvenate,  a  well-defined  shoreline,  with  broad  beaches  and 
high  bluffs.  During  the  last  five  centuries,  since  the  fall  of  Zahidan,  there  has  been 
a  gradual  decrease  in  the  size  of  the  lake  and  in  the  density  of  the  population  that 
surrounds  it.  How  this  could  take  place  without  a  dimunition  in  the  water  supply 
it  is  hard  to  understand.  The  historj-  of  Sistan,  so  far  as  it  can  be  made  out,  seems 
to  indicate  a  gradual  desiccation  of  the  countr}-  from  early  historical  times  down 
even  to  the  present.  The  evidence  of  archeology,  historj',  and  tradition  in  the 
surrounding  countries  points  in  the  same  direction.  At  Sistan  history  and  physiog- 
raphy appear  to  join  hands,  for  the  change  from  the  conditions  of  greater  water- 
supply  during  antiquity  to  the  desiccation  of  to-day  is  apparently  the  change  from 
the  last  fluvial  epoch  to  the  present  interfluvial  epoch. 


3l6  THE   BASIN    OF   EASTERN    PERSIA    AND    SISTAN. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

BellEw,  H.  W.    From  the  Indus  to  the  Tigris.    Lon.,  1874,  pp.  496. 

An  account  of  a  journey  from  Quetta  via  Sistan  to  the  Persian  Gulf.  An  interesting  and  valu- 
able 'book,  written  in  a  scientific  spirit. 

Blanford,  W.  T. 

(a)  On  the  Nature    and   Probable   Origin  of  the   Superficial   Deposits  in  the  Valleys  and 
Deserts  of  Central  Persia.     Quart.  Journ.  Geol.  Soc.,  London,  vol.  29,  1873,  pp.  493-503. 
One  of  the  most  valuable  contributions  to  Persian  gec^raphy  and  geology. 
(6)  Zoology  and  Geology.     In  "Eastern  Persia,"    Vol.  II,  L.,  1876,  Geology,  pp.  439-506. 
One  of  the  most  useful  books  on  Eastern  Persia. 

Chirol,  Valentine.    The  Middle  Eastern  Question.    Lon.,  1903,  pp.  500. 

From  a  political  and  literary  standpoint  this  book  ranks  high.  Scientifically  it  i«  valuable  for 
its  vivid  picture  of  the  contrast  between  the  Persia  of  the  past  and  of  the  present. 

CuRZON,  Geo.  N.    Persia  and  the  Persian  Question.    Lon.,  1892,  2  vols. 

This  is  generally  agreed  to  be  the  best  book  on  Persia  as  a  whole.  Unfortunately  it  deals 
very  briefly  with  Eastern  Persia. 

Davis,  Wm.  M. 

(a)  Elementary  Meteorology.     Boston,  1894. 

(6)  An  Excursion  to  the  Plateau  Province  of  Utah  and  Arizona.  Bulletin  of  the  Museum 
of  Comparative  Zoology  of  Harvard  University.    Vol.  XLII,  1903,  pp.  1-50. 

(c)  The  Mountain  Ranges  of  the  Great  Ba^in.    Ibid.,  pp.  129-177. 

(d)  River  Terraces  in  New  England.     Ibid.,  Vol.  XXXVIII,  pp.  279-346. 

Ferrier,  J.  P.    Caravan  Journeys  and  Wanderings   in   Persia,   Afghanistan,   Turkestan,   and   Belu- 
chistan.    Lon.,  1857. 
A  fascinating  volume  of  exciting  adventures  and  wonderful  escapes.     It  contains  interesting 
accounts  of  ithe  manners  and  customs  of  the  various  people  encountered,  and  brief  notes 
on  history  and  geography. 

Forbes,  Frederick.    Route  from  Tmrbat  Haideri,  in  Khorasan,  to  the  River  Heri  Rud,  on  the  bor- 
ders of  Sistan.     Journ.  Roy.  Geog.  Soc,  vol.  14,  1844,  pp.  145-192. 
A  fairly  interesting  journal  published  almost  as  written.     Although  the  work  contains  con- 
siderable information  about  villages,  Turkoman  raids,  etc.,  it  is  chiefly  of  value  to  the 
traveler  who  proposes  to  follow  the  same  route. 

GoLDSMiD,  Sir  Frederic. 

(a)   Introduction  to  "Eastern  Persia,"  Vol.  I,  pp.  ix-lviii. 

A  sketch  of  the  history  and  politics  of  the  eastern  border  of  Persia  from  Sistan  southward. 

(6)  Journey  from  Bandar  Abbas  to  Mash -had  by  Sistan,  with  some  account  of  tilie  last- 
named  Province.    Journ.  Roy.  Geog.  Soc,  vol.  43,  1873,  pp.  65-83. 

A  good  account  of  a  journey,  with  an  excellent  summary  of  the  geography  of  Sistan.  It  con- 
tains, however,  little  which  is  not  found  in  later  works. 

(c)  Notes  on  Recent  Persian  Travel.    Journ.  Roy.  Geog.  Soc,  vol.  44,  1874,  pp.  183-203. 

A  readable  account  of  a  few  general  features  of  Persia,  of  a  journey  from  Bushire  to  Tehe- 
ran, and  of  the  ravages  of  the  famine  of  1871. 

HoLDiCH,  T.  H.    The  Indian  Borderland.    Lon.,  1901,  pp.  397. 

An  account  of  the  borders  of  Afghanistan  from  a  surveyor's  standpoint.  Although  the  book 
is  arranged  according  to  the  author's  journeys,  not  by  subjects  or  places,  it  is  a  valuable 
contribution  to  history  and  geography.      It  contains  some  excellent  descriptions  of  scenery. 

Landor,  a.  H.  S.    Across  Coveted  Lands.    2  vols.    N.  Y.,  1903. 

A  well-written  Ixxik,  containing  a  large  amount  of  information,  part  of  which  is  unreliable. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


317 


LOVETT,  B. 

(a)   Narrative  of  a  Journey  in  Baluchistan.     In  "Eastern  Persia,"  Vol.  I,  pp.  iig-142. 
A  concise,  unadorned  description  of  routes,  of  slight  value  e.xcept  to  the  actual  traveler. 
(6)  Narrative  of  a  Visit  to  the  Kuh-i-Khwaja  in   Sistan.     Joum.  Roy.   Geog.   Soc,  vol.  44, 

1874,  pp.  145-152. 
A  personal  account  of  a  visit  to  the  holy  mesa  of  Sistan,  and  of  the  writer's  attempts  to  carry 
on  surveying  operations. 

Malcolm,  John.    The  His.tory  of  Persia.    2  vols.    Lon.,  1815. 

This  book  is  still  one  of  the  most  valuable  sources  of  information  on  Persia. 

MacGrEcor,  C.  M.    Wanderings  in  Baluchistan.     Lon.,  1882. 

Very  brightly  written  and  entertaining,  although  not  containing  much  that  is  of  perittanent 
value. 

Markham,  Clements  R.    The  Basin  of  the  Helmund.    Proc.  Roy.  Geog.  Soc,  n.  s.,  Vol.  I,  p.  191. 
An  empirical  account  of  the  mountains  surrounding  the  Helmund  basin,  of  the  main  tribu- 
taries of  the  river,  and  of  the  chief  routes. 

McMahon,  a.  H. 

(a)  The  Southern  Borders  of  Afghanistan.     Geog.  Journal,  Apr.,  1897. 

A  short  account  of  the  people  and  physiography  of  the   southern   border  of  Afghanistan. 

Valuable  and  interesting, 
(t)  The  Baluchistan  Desert,  south  of  the  Helmund  River.    Quart.  Journ.  Geol.  Soc.  of  Lon., 

vol.  S3,  pp.  289-295. 
A  brief  account  of  the  physical  geography  of  the   region   similar  to  that  contained  in    (a), 

followed  by  notes  on  various  rock  specimens. 

O'DoNOVAN,  Edmond.    The  Merv  Oasis.    2  vols.     Lon.,  1882. 

An  interes.ting  book,  full  of  stirring  adventures.  Northern  Persia  is  described  chiefly  from 
a  political  and  historical  standpoint,  but  there  are  also  good  accounts  of  the  people  and 
of  physiographic  features. 

Rawlinson,  H.  C.    Notes  on  Sistan.    Journ.  Roy.  Geog.  Soc.,  vol.  43,  1873,  pp.  272-294. 

A  scholarly  article  containing  a  good  summary  of  the  history  of  Sistan  and  of  the  changes 
in  its  canals  and  water-supply. 

Smith,  Euan.     The  Perso-Baluoh  Frontier  Mission,   1870,   1871,  and  the   Perso-Afghan   Mission, 
1871,  1872.    In  "Eastern  Persia,"  Vol.  I,  pp.  145-391. 
A  straightforward,  trustworthy  narrative,  with  many  valuable,  though  empirical,  descriptions 
of  isolated  phenomena. 

St.  John,  O.  B.    On  the  Physical  Geography  of  Persia,  and  Narative  of  a  Journey  through  Baluch- 
istan and  Southern  Persia.     In  "Eastern  Persia,"  Vol.  I,  pp.  1-115. 
The  chapter  on  the  physical  geography  of  the  country  is  of  a  general  character,  and  is  of 
great  value.    The  remainder  is  an  account    of   a   journey,   with   occasional    descriptions 
which  are  of  permanent  value. 

Sykes,  P.  M.    Ten  Thousand  Miles  in  Persia,  or  Eight  Years  in  Iran.    Lon.,  1902,  pp.  481. 

This  book  is  easily  the  most  valuable  work  on  Eastern  Persia.  It  aims  to  supplement  the 
work  of  Lord  Curzon.  Unfortunately  the  order  of  presentation  is  based  strictly  on  the 
accidental  circumstance  of  the  writer's  line  of  march,  and  a  single  subject  is  scattered  in 
many  places.  The  amount  of  research  involved  in  the  production  of  the  book,  and  its 
accuracy,  make  it  indispensable  to  every  student  of  Persia. 

Vredenburo,  E.     a  Geological  Sketch  of  the  Baluchistan    Desert   and    Part   of   Eastern    Persia. 
-Memoirs  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  India,  Vol.  XXXI,  part  2,  1901,  pp.  179-302. 
This  -work  embodies  a  large  amount  of  valuable  data,  and  is  the  only  recent  scientific  work 
on  this  part  of  the  world. 

Yate,  C.  E.    Khurasan  and  Sistan.    Lon.,  1900,  pp.  442. 

An  exceedingly  personal  narrative  of  travel,  with  bits  of  historical,  commercial,  and  military 
information  scattered  through  it. 


I  NDEX. 


PAGE. 

Abukumof  Station,  sketch  of  range  near.  . .         78 

jllolian  erosions 252 

Afghan  depression 237-242 

Afghanistan   5,11 

Afrosiab  11, 18 

Aibughir  Gulf 6 

Ak-Busa-Ga    150 

plain   of 126 

Akhal-Tekin  oases 41 

Ak  Sai 190 

Ak-si  S,  18 

Alabuga  River 102 

Alabuga  Valley 94 

Alai  crest 155 

Alai  epoch 14S 

Alai  Mountains 171,178 

Block  uplifts  in 17 

Alai  Valley 127, 133-136, 146,  179 

Artemonof,  General 4 

Aryan    7,  13 

Asatians,  Captain 64 

Asia,  Central 3,  16 

Western 5 

Askhabad   4,  S,  7,  18 

Atrek  River 10 

Ruins  near 9 

Alexander  Range 75 

Alexander  the  Great II,  303 

Altitude,  Aral,  Caspian,  and  Black  seas....  S 
American   formations  compared  with  Tur- 
kestan          166 

Amu  Darya 5 

Amu   Delta 39 

Amu  River 54 

Anau  5,  18, 307 

Kurgan  at 7 

Anau  Gorge 255 

Anau  terraces 256 

Andizhan  5,  7. 6s 

Andreef,  Mr 64 

Aqueous  series  of  basin  deposits 249 

Aral   3,4,6 

Altitude   5 

Fluctuations  of 6 

Old  water  lines  above 6 

Aralo-Caspian  Basin 13 

seas   18 

Quaternary    deposits    in    the 

Kara-Kum   ^"j 

Aralo-Caspian  Sea  and  deposits 25 

.Archeology,  notes  on 114 

Bactra   5 


PAGE. 

Bajistan   268 

Bajistan  Basin 244 

Bakharden    42, 43 

Baku   3 

Old  Caspian  shoreline  near 30 

Quaternary  Caspian  shorelines  near. ...  28 

Ridge  northeast  of 31 

Sketch  map  of  district  southwest  of . . . .  29 

Baikh    5 

Balkhan  Mountains,  Caspian  shoreline  in. .  35 

Bal  Kuwi 307 

Barkhan  near  Bakharden 44 

Basin,    Great — Aral,    Caspian,    and    Black 

seas  5 

Basins,  water 12 

Bendan    278 

Berg    6 

Bibi-Eibat,  oil-wells  of 31 

Bibliography  for  Report  of  W.  M.  Davis.    118-119 

Binalud  Kuh 266 

Biiialud  Range  and  neighboring  basins 237 

Black  Sea 3,14 

Altitude  of 5 

Mounds  near 7 

South  coast  of 26 

Blanford,   quoted 249 

Bogandovitch,    Mr 4 

Bokhara  4, 5 

Bones  in  mounds 8 

Bosporus    26 

bird's-eye  diagram  of 26 

effect  of  closing 5 

Brovtzine,  Serge 3,  23,  64 

Buildings,  submerged 7 

Bural-bas-tau  73 

Buuzan  Range 49 

Calcium  sulphate,  concretionary  growths  of.  141 

Canals   10 

abandoned   7 

near  Son  Kul 115 

Carnegie  Institution  of  Washington 3 

Carved  stone  on  plain  at  east  end  of  Issik 

Kul    116 

Caspian  region 24 

shoreline  in  Balkhan  Mountains.  . .  35 

shorelines,  Quaternary,  near  Baku..  28 

Tertiary  and  Quaternary 24-25 

Caspian  Sea 3,^7, -4 

Altitude  of 5 

Old  shorelines  above 16 

Cassini,  Count 4 

Caucasus    14 


319 


320 


INDEX. 


,  rAGB. 

Central  Turkestan,  sketch  map  of i6o 

Chadir  Kul 167,  I74 

Chahak  Basin 243 

Chalai  Range 84 

Chani  Well 264 

Charjui,  sand  dunes  south  of 57 

Chau  Bineh  Basin 243 

Cherkasof,  Baron 4 

Chernichcf,  Director 64 

China    5, 10 

Choate,  Hon.  Joseph  II 4 

Chulak  Range 62 

Chu  River 97 

Relations  to  Issik  Kul m 

Circles,  stone 7 

Cirques  90-9' 

of  Trans-Alai  Range 13S 

Climate  in  Tian  Shan 7° 

of    antiquity 311 

of  Persia 227 

oscillations 17 

Climatic  changes,  influence  on  Persia....   253-271 

Cobble  deposits  near  Krasnovodsk 35 

spit  on  a  ridge  near  Zuyk 32 

Darak  kurgan 146 

Dasht-i-Lut,  northern  border  of 308 

terraces  on  borders  of 267 

Davis,  Wm.  M 3, 4,  5.  7,  16, 17, 18 

On  a  Journey  Across  Turkestan 23-119 

Deformation  and  erosion,  period  of 93 

de  Morgan,  M.  J 7,  iS 

Depopulation  of  Iran 308 

Deposition  and  erosion  in  Persia 246 

and  uplift,  long  continuance  of 

processes  of 170 

period  of 92 

Desert  of  Despair 232 

Desert  plains,  aggrading  rivers  of 55 

plains  of  Turkestan 54 

proportion  of 5 

Desiccation  6 

Progressive  6,  13.  16 

Diversion  theory 288 

Dolmens 7 

Dorandt  6 

Drowned  valleys 108,  144 

Dsungarian  Ala-tau,  outline  of 11 

Dubosof,  Mr 4 

Dungsugot   211 

Duruigar  Valley,  terraces  of 52 

Dushak 257 

Earthquake  at  Kuchan 236 

Eastern  Persia,  literature  concerning 221 

Outline  of  report  upon 222 

Physiography  of 225 

Quaternary  climatic  changes  of 273-275 

Elburg   Mountains 17 

Erosion,  amount  of 182 

and  deformation,  period  of 93 

and  deposition  in  Persia 246 

of  mountains 247 


Escarpments  of  Alai  Valley 135 

Evaporation    6 

Extinct  lake  of  Zorabad 239 

Fergana   7, 60, 123 

Fergana  Basin 181 

Fergana  lowland  plains 17, 151 

Firuza  Basin 47 

Fluvial  or  lacustral  theory 290 

Gedeonof ,  General 4, 64 

Genghis  Khan 12 

Geography,  physical 16 

Geological  history  of  Iran  Basin 232 

of  Northeastern  Persia.  233-245 

Geological  series 162 

Ghiaur  Kala 10,  18, 56 

Glacial  and  lake  level  advances,  fluctuations 

explained  143 

epochs   16,  14s,  184,  186-198 

erosion  in  higher  ranges 89 

geology  of  Kara  Kul  Basin 140 

period  in  Asia,  subdivision  of 183 

period,  subdivision  of 88 

period,  summary  of 199 

records  in  Tian  Shan 84-92 

Glaciation  182 

of  Asia  compared  with  that  of 

America  and  Europe 200 

Glaciers   6, 16, 182 

God-i-Zirrah  283 

Golden  Horn 26 

Gorge  of  Western  Kugart 99 

Gravel  deposits 250 

Gravels  of  Sistan 291 

Gruen wedel  14 

Gulcha  149 

Ilaji  Hussein  Beg  Valley 267 

Helmund,  delta  of 281 

Helmund  River 276 

Heri  Rud  River  258 

Hcri  Rud  Valley  237 

Hilkof,  Prince 4 

Hindu  Kush  dam 257 

Horsts,  theory  of 82 

Hungary,  mounds  in 7 

Huntington,  Ellsworth 3. 4.  5,  16 

On  a  Geologic  and  Physiographic  Re- 

connaisance  in  Central  Turkestan..   159-216 
On   the   Basin   of   Eastern    Persia   and 

Sistan   217-315 

Ice-cap  of  Russia 17 

Imperial  Academy  of  Sciences 4 

Imperial  Geographical  Society 4 

India  n,  14 

Inscriptions,  pictographic 7 

Interglacial  intervals 17 

Iran,  ancient  climate  of 302 

depopulation  of 308 

Iran  Basin  230,232 

Irtysh  River 79 

Iskender  Kala 10 

Ispairan  Valley 207 


INDEX. 


321 


PAGE. 

Issik  Kul 5,  7, 16, 18 

Drowned  Valley  in  plain  at  east  end  of.  108 

Ranges   near 74 

Recent  changes  of 109 

Rivers  of 96 

Shorelines  of log 

Sketch  map  of  ranges  southwest  of.  ...  75 

Issik  Kul  Basin   105 

Issik  Kul  District   115 

Itinerary  of  a  Journey  Across  Turkestan.  .  23-119 

Ivanof,  Governor-General  and  Madame....  4 

Jai   Tebeh 210 

Jam  Basin 243 

Jaxartes  S 

Jebel,  Quaternary  shorelines  near 33 

Jizak  18,  59 

Railroad  cut  south  of 59 

Jukuchak  Pass 172 

Jukuchak  Valley,  moraines  of 186 

Juvan-arik   96 

Kach-kar  96 

Kach-kar   Basin 96 

Kambar-Ali,  the  Min-Bashi  of  Kugart 65 

Kanab  Canyon 272 

Kan  Su  Valley,  moraines  of 193 

Kaplan    Kul 208 

Kara-bulak,  loess  drifts  near 62 

Kara  Jilga  moraine 142 

Kara  Kermak 167 

Kara  Kul 129,  130 

Kara  Kul  Basin 138-142 

Kara  Kul  Lake,  high  shorelines  around....  17 

Kara  Kul  Lake  and  Syr  Darya 121-155 

Kara-kum,  Quaternary  Aralo-Caspian Z7 

Karpinsky,    Mr 4 

Kashgar  Basin  5,  175,  181 

Katin- Art  Pass 148,  155 

Kauf mann.  Mount 128 

Kettle-hole  lake 133 

Khaf,  playa  of 264 

Khoja  Ishken 182 

Khoja  Ishken  Valley,  moraines  of 187 

Khokand   5 

Khorasan   4 

Khorasan  Mountains 233 

Kibitkas,  Turkoman,  village  of 45 

Kichik  Alai 180 

Kirghiz  caravan  125 

character  of 66,  125 

Kizil-Art   129 

Kizil-Art  Darya    146 

Kizil-Art  Valley   136 

Kizil  Kul,  observation  in  region  of 143 

Kizil  Kul  Steppe 142 

Kizil   Su 146 

Kogneh  Nemeksar  Lake 260 

Kok  Kiya 206 

Kok  Su  Valley 187 

Kok-tal  Range  74 

Komorof,  General 7.  S 

Konshin  39 


FAGB. 

Kopet  Dagh. 46-54, 233 

Dislocation  of  mountains 17 

Geological  outline  map  of 46 

Northern  slope  of 254 

Terraces  (dissected)  at  base  of 42 

Korolkof,  Mr 64 

Korytof,  Colonel 64 

Kotir  Kul  143 

Krasnovodsk   4 

Quaternary  shorelines  near 33 

Kuchan    earthquake 236 

Kugalinsk  village 62 

Kugart  Pass gg 

Kugart  terraces 97,  114 

Kugart  Valley  (western),  loess  in  the 63 

Kuh-i-Khoja   285 

Kukol-Yasnopolski,  Colonel 4, 47 

Kulberenj    265 

Kungei    Ala-tau 76 

Moraines   in 87 

Kurgans    7 

Kurumdi  epoch 145 

Kusak  Valley 62 

Kuve-Gen-Shagai-ef  67, 68 

Kuzzil   Kur 167 

Kuzzil  Oi  Basin 176 

Kuzzil  Su 179 

Kyzil  Irmak  (Halys  River) 27 

Lacustral  of  fluvial  theory 290 

Lacustrine  bluffs  near  Seh-Kuheh 296 

Lake  deposits  versus  playa  deposits 286 

Lake  level  and  glacial  advances,  fluctuations 

explained  143 

Lakes  of  Turkestan 208 

Langar 152 

Lenkoran  country 18 

Limestone  in  the  Sugun  Valley,  folds  in.  ...  163 
Literature   relating  to  Eastern    Persia  and 

Sistan   316-317 

Loess 18,  178 

deposits  of  Turkestan 58 

drifts  near  Kara-bulak 62 

in  Fergana 60 

in  Semiryetshensk 61 

in  (western)  Kugart  Valley 63 

near  Jizak 59 

near  Samarkand 58 

plain    II 

Lutuck   29s 

McCormick,  Mr 4 

Manytsch  divide 18 

Marghilan    5 

Markou,  Mount 47 

Mature  basins 248 

Mealing  stones  in  mounds 8, 9 

Meanders  and  terraces 204 

Medinsky,    General 4 

Mediterranean,   Asian 3 

.Merv,  Ancient    'O 

Old   4.18 

accumulation  of  ruins  at 9 


322 


INDEX. 


PAGE. 

Men-  Oasis   307 

Old  and  Modern 55 

Meslicd  Basin 235 

Mesozoic-Tertiary  scries 163 

Metallurgy   16 

Metate  method 8 

Mil-i-Kasiniabad,  ruins  at 229 

Min-Bashi  of  Kugart  and  his  men 66 

Min  Yol  Basin I77 

Mohammedan  cemeteries 11 

Moraines  in  Kizil-Art  Pass i37 

in  the  Alai  Valley 133-136 

in  the  Kungei  Ala-Tau 87 

in  the  Terskci  Ala-Tau 86 

near  Son  Kul 84 

Mosques  at  Samarkand 12 

Mounds 7 

in  Hungary 7 

in  Southern  Russia 7 

in  Southern  Siberia 7 

near  Black  Sea 7 

on  Kugart  Terrace 114 

Mudirum  Basin,  moraines  of 19° 

Mudirum  Su ^73 

Murg-al)  River 54,257 

Muschketof  '7 

Nalifkin,  General  and  Madame 4 

Namali,  synclinal  valley  southeast  of 51 

Narin  Basin,  terraces  of 102 

Narin  formation  18 

Narin  Tertiary  Basin 92-95 

Neh,  ruins  of 3o6 

Nemeksar  Basin  243 

Nemeksar,  or  the  Playa  of  Khaf 264 

North  America,  terraces  in 272 

Northeastern  Persia,  geological  history  of.  233-245 

Norton,  Richard 4 

Oases    o 

of  Akhal-Tekin 41 

Omsk  5 

Osh   4,  5 

Outlet  theory 288 

Oxus    7, 8 

Paikent    5.  18 

Ruins   of 10 

Paleozoic  series 160 

Pamir  4,  5,  138-145 

Map  of 124 

Paropamisus    237 

Penck,    Professor 58 

Persia  4.  u, '5 

as  an   example   of   the   influence   of 

changes  of  climate 253-271 

as    a    typical    example    of    an    arid 

country  246-253 

mounds  in  Northern -.  7 

Physiographic  Observations  between  the  Syr 
Darya  and  Lake  Kara  Kul,  on  the  Pamir, 

in   1903 121-155 

Piedmont  plains  of  Southern  Turkestan. ...  40 

slopes  and  valleys 106 


PAOE. 

Pierce,  Herbert 4 

Plains  of  Southern  Turkestan 36 

Plehve,    Mr 4 

Polovtzof,   Mr 64 

Poslovsky,  General 4 

Pottery  in  mounds 8 

PouIovtsoflF,  Colonel 4 

Przhevalsk,  or  Kara  Kul 159 

Pul-i-Khatun,  salt  lake  of 263 

Pumpclly,   R.   W 3,  17 

Pumpclly,   Raphael,   on    Physiographic   Ob- 
servations   between    the    Syr    Darya   and 

Lake  Kara  Kul 121-155 

Quaternary  Aralo-Caspian    deposits    in    the 

Kara-Kum  37 

Caspian  shorelines  near  Baku. .        28 
climatic     changes     of     Eastern 

Persia   273-275 

era  in  Sistan 285-302 

history   13 

period    182-214 

shorelines     near     Krasnovodsk 

and  Jebel 33 

time   3 

uplift    169-181 

Quintus  Curtius  12 

Radloff,  General 15 

Railroad  cut  south  of  Jizak 59 

Rhythmic  warping  theory 289 

Richthofcn    (von),  Baron 4 

Ridlcr,   Mr 4 

Ripplc-marks  164 

Rivers,  aggrading,  desert  plains  of 55 

Ruins,  desiccation   of  ancient 305 

of  Old  Kuchan 236 

towns  and  "forts" 7 

Russia,  mounds  in  Southern 7 

Sabazkim  beach  and  bluffs 297 

St.  Petersburg  3. 4,  5 

Salt  Lake  of  Pul-i-Khatun 263 

Samarkand   4>  5.  '8,  58 

Mosques  at  12 

Ruins    lo-ll 

Samsun 26,  27 

Sand-dunes  near  Seh-Kuheh 296 

south  of  Charj  ui 57 

Sandhills  near  Bakharden 43 

Sands,  invasion  of 0 

Sankar  Valley 60 

Sari  Tash  Valley I47. 148 

Sazanovka  7" 

Schcil    IS 

Schmidt,   Professor 4 

Schultz  6 

Schwartz    ; 5 

Sediments  of  the  great  Kara  Kul  Basin 138 

Seh-Kuheh  beach  and  bluffs 29S 

Selsuparali  Basin 5° 

Semenof,  Mr 4 

Semipalatinsk   7° 

Semiryetshensk   61 


INDEX. 


323 


PAGE. 

Semiryetshensk   and   Semipalatinsk,   ranges 

and  steppes  of 'J^ 

Serakhs   257 

Serani  Valley  and  village 48, 49 

Seven-river  district     61 

Shila  283 

Shorelines, Caspian,  in  Balkhan  Mountains.  35 

east  of  Trebizonde 27 

of  Issik  Kul 109 

of  great  Kara  Kul  Basin 138 

Quaternary,  near  Jebel 33 

Quaternary,    near    Krasnovodsk 

and  Jebel  2,7> 

Shor  Kul 208,263 

Siberia   15 

Mounds  in  Southern 7 

Sistan  276-284 

Causes  of  the  alternations  of 288 

Gravels  of 291 

Legendary  history  of 312 

Terraces  of 293 

Sistan  and  Basin  of  Eastern  Persia 217-315 

Sistan  Lake,  deposits  of 285 

Snowfield  below  Sutto-bulak  Pass 88 

Son  Kul,  moraines  near 84 

old  canals  near 1 15 

stone  circles  near 114 

Son  Kul  Basin 74 

Son  Kul  Lake 7, 16 

Southern  Turkestan,  plains  of 36 

Stein  14 

StrobI,  Dr 58 

Stubendorf,  General 4 

Sugun  Karaul 170 

Sugun  Valley,  folds  in  limestone  in 163 

Susa    14 

Excavations  at IS 

Sutto-bulak  Pass,  snowfield  below 88 

Syr  Darya 5,  7,  i7. '55 

Shrinking  of 6 

Syr  Darya  and  Lake  Kara  Kul,  Physiographic 

observations  121-155 

Taka  Valley,  moraines  of 196 

Takka  Pass 124 

Taldic   5,  126 

Taldic  darya   148 

Taldic  Pass 148 

Taldic  Valley 148-151 

Tamerlane  12 

Tarentass   T] 

Tashkent   4,5 

Tate,  G.   P 229 

Tchernachcf  4 

Tejen  River 54,  55.  258 

Terek   5 

Terrace  development,  scheme  of 53 

Terraces  201 

among  mountains  from  Meshed  to 

Birjand  266 

as  a  result  of  climatic  changes.  . . .  206 

as  a  result  of  warping 203 


PAGB. 

Terraces  at  Namali 51 

(dissected)  at  base  of  Kopet  Dagh.  42 

examples  of 254 

formation,  theories  of 254 

in  North  America 272 

in  Serani  Valley 49 

in  Turkey 271 

Kugart  p7 

of  Duruigar  Valley 52 

of  Narin  Basin 102 

of  Sistan 293 

of  Western  Kugart 98 

on  borders  of  Dasht-I-Lut 267 

origin  of 103 

Terskei  Ala-Tau,  moraines  in 86 

Tertiary  history  of  basins  of  Eastern  Persia  242-245 

peneplain   167 

Tian  Shan,  climate  in 70 

glacial  records  in 84-92 

origin  of  existing  ranges 80 

ranges,    bearing    on    theory    of 

horsts  82 

rivers  and  valleys  of 95 

vegetation  in  the 70 

weather  in  the 70 

Tian  Shan  Mountains 6, 14,  16, 64-83 

Development   72 

Tian  Shan  Plateau 171 

Tillo   6 

Timur's  Gate 59 

Town  sites 18 

Towns,  ancient 9 

Trans- Alai,  glacial  epochs  in 17 

Trans-Caspian   railway 4 

Trans-Caspian  region 3 

Trebizonde  27 

elevated  shorelines  east  of 2^ 

gravels  near 28 

Tuluk  Valley 96 

Tumulus,  growth  of 8 

Tumuli   7^18 

Turanians   7^  j^ 

Turkestan,   A   Journey   Across,  by   W.   M. 

Davis   23-119 

Turkestan   3, 4,  IS,  i8 

Chinese  15 

Russian   13,  14 

Turkestan   formations  compared  with  Amer- 
ican    166 

Turkey,  terraces  in 271 

Turkoman  kibitkas,  village  of 45 

Ula-khol  delta 106 

Ulianin,  General ^ 

Ulu-tuz  gorge 93 

Ungus   38,39 

Uplands  across  the  Bosporus,  sketch  of . . . .  26 
Uplift  and  deposition,  long  continuance  of 

processes  of 170 

Urgas-Khan   6S 

Urta-takoe  96 

Usboi  Channel 38 


324  INDEX. 

TAOE.  PAGE. 

Ussakovsky,  General 4, 47, 220       Vate,  C.  E 284 

Vegetation  in  the  Tian  Shan 70      Yermolof,  Mr 4 

Volga  5      Yeshil  Irmak  (Iris  River) 27 

Volkovnikof,  Colonel  and  Madame 4      Yonof,  General 70 

von  Richthofen,  Baron 4      Zaitza,   Colonel 4, 5 

Wars,  influence  on  depopulation 309      Zend  Avesta 10 

Weather  in  the  Tian  Shan 70      Zerafshan  glacier 132 

Windmills  at  Tabas 228      Zerafshan  River 10 

Yak  Tash  Basin 173      Zittel,  Professor 8 

Moraines  of 192      Zorabad  Basin 242 

Yanchevetzki,  V.  G 4, 220      Zorabad,  extinct  lake  at 239 


11 


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